Systems and methods for organizational collaboration

ABSTRACT

A peer collaboration method comprising: receiving commands from certain users to create project correspondence environment (PCE) objects each containing PCE metadata and PCE team members and related entities; generating, for each of the PCE objects, child PCE objects associated with respective related entities, associating each entity with the respective child PCE object as a PCE child member, and inheriting respective PCE metadata from the PCE object, each one of the child PCE objects additionally containing child PCE team members; documenting correspondence held between any of the child PCE team members within each respective child PCE object; providing each of the child PCE team members with an access to the documented correspondence within the child PCE object; documenting correspondence held between any of the PCE team members with each of the entities; and providing each of the PCE team members with an access to the documented correspondence in the PCE object.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/806,849 filed on Jul. 23, 2015, which claims the benefit of priorityunder 35 USC § 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.62/032,681 filed Aug. 4, 2014, the contents of which are incorporatedherein by reference in their entirety.

FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention, in some embodiments thereof, relates to systemsand methods for communication between peers and, more specifically, butnot exclusively, to systems and methods for collaboration between peersof an organization.

Different systems have been developed to try and help employees of anorganization collaborate. For example, Yammer® (www(dot)yammer(dot)com)describes “a private social network that helps employees collaborateacross departments, locations and business apps”. In another example,Microsoft SharePoint® describes “new ways to share your work and workwith others, organize your projects and teams and discover people andinformation”.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to an aspect of some embodiments of the present invention,there is provided a computer-implemented method for intra-organizationaland extra-organizational peer collaboration, comprising: registering, ata central server, multiple users in a user repository storing a datasetof multiple registered users; receiving, at the central server, multiplecommands from certain users of the multiple registered users, to createmultiple project correspondence environment (PCE) objects eachcontaining PCE metadata and multiple PCE team member electronicaddresses of multiple PCE team members from the registered users, andmultiple related entity electronic addresses of entities associated withthe PCE object; receiving a command, at the central server, from acertain PCE team member of each PCE object, to associate multiple entityusers from the multiple related entities with each PCE object based onthe electronic address; generating, for each of the PCE objects multiplechild PCE objects associated with respective the multiple relatedentities, associating each entity user with the respective child PCEobject as a PCE child member, and inheriting respective the PCE metadatafrom the PCE object, each one of the multiple child PCE objectsadditionally containing multiple child PCE team member electronicaddresses of multiple child PCE team members; documenting correspondenceheld between any of the multiple child PCE team members within eachrespective child PCE object using the multiple related entity electronicaddresses in the PCE object; providing each of the multiple child PCEteam members with an access to correspondence documented in a respectivethe child PCE object; documenting correspondence held between any of themultiple PCE team members with each of the entities using the multiplerelated entity electronic addresses in the PCE object; and providingeach of the multiple PCE team members with an access to correspondencedocumented in a respective PCE object.

Optionally, the method further comprises associating the PCE objectswith the user; and generating a list of the PCE objects for presentationin an intra-organizational social profile page.

Optionally, the method further comprises blocking access to thedocumented correspondence from other child PCE team members of otherchild PCE objects and from PCE team members of the PCE object; andblocking each of the entities from access to correspondence with otherof the entities.

Optionally, the metadata includes a brief field which includes a userprovided description of a project on which the respective PCE object isbased, and a debrief field which includes a user provided update of theproject or a summary after project completion.

Optionally, the PCE object includes a shared space for sharing of dataand correspondence of messages and files between team members of the PCEobject and child team members of each child PCE object.

Optionally, the method further comprises displaying on a respective userinterface of each team member of each PCE object, information of otherteam members of the PCE object and information of each related entity ofeach child PCE object; and displaying for each child PCE team member,information of other child team members of the PCE object andinformation of each team member of the PCE object.

Optionally, the generated PCE objects and child PCE objects are storedin a PCE repository.

Optionally, the method further comprises receiving a command, at thecentral server, from a certain child PCE team member of each child PCEobject, to associate multiple entity users from the multiple relatedentities of the child PCE object with each child PCE object based on theelectronic address; and generating, for each of the PCE child objectsmultiple grandchild PCE objects associated with respective the multiplerelated child entities, associating each child entity user with therespective grandchild PCE object as a PCE grandchild member, andinheriting respective the child PCE metadata from the child PCE object,each one of the multiple grandchild PCE objects additionally containingmultiple grandchild PCE team member electronic addresses of multiplegrandchild PCE team members. Optionally, correspondence of grandchildteam members of the grandchild PCE object is unavailable for access byteam members of the PCE object, and correspondence of team members ofthe PCE object is unavailable for access by team grandchild members ofthe grandchild PCE object. Optionally, the method further comprisesreceiving, at the central server, a request from a certain team memberof the PCE object to link to the grandchild PCE object, and linking thegrandchild PCE object to the PCE object, the PCE link stored in the PCEmapping module; wherein selected correspondence of the grandchild teammembers of the grandchild PCE object is available to team members of thePCE object, and selected correspondence of the PCE team members of thePCE object is available to grandchild team members of the grandchild PCEobject.

Optionally, the method further comprises linking the child PCE object tothe PCE object via a PCE link, the PCE link stored in a PCE mappingmodule.

Optionally, inheriting comprises automatically copying data from ashared space of the PCE object having permission for access by therespective child PCE object, to the shared space of the respective childPCE object, the copied data having a permission to allow access to thecopied data by all child team members of the child PCE object.

Optionally, data designated as archived in the PCE object has permissionfor access by all respective child PCE objects, the archiveautomatically copied to all child PCE objects.

Optionally, the correspondence includes a text message written by thecertain team member for viewing by a selected subset of team membersbased on a permission associated with the text message.

Optionally, the correspondence includes a file uploaded by the certainteam member to the respective shared space of the PCE object, fordownloading or viewing by a selected subset of team members based on apermission associated with the file. Optionally, correspondencedesignated as archived is available for downloading or reviewing by allteam members based on a global permission level.

Optionally, the correspondence by the PCE team member is copied to thechild PCE object for access by all child PCE team members.

Optionally, the correspondence by the child PCE team members is copiedto the PCE object for access by all PCE team members.

Optionally, the method further comprises receiving, at the centralserver, a request from at least one user of the multiple registeredusers, to become a member of the PCE object; and mapping, at the centralserver, between the at least one requesting user and the PCE object, toassign members of the PCE object.

Optionally, a single copy of the correspondence is stored within theshared space of the PCE object, the same single copy accessible to thePCE members.

Optionally, the PCE team members include internal users from within acompany and the child PCE team members include external users from therelated entity outside the company, the internal and external userscollaborating together through common respective PCE objects.

Optionally, the method further comprises one or both of tagging a PCElink between the PCE object and child PCE object, and storing data inassociation with the PCE link, the data related to the relationshipbetween the team members of the PCE object and the related entity of thechild PCE object. Optionally, the link is unidirectional, and taggingand storing data is independently performed for the link between the PCEobject and child PCE object, and for the link between the child PCEobject and the parent PCE object.

Optionally, metadata of the child PCE object is changed by a certainchild PCE member, independently of the metadata of the PCE object.

Optionally, the method further comprises providing data from a certainteam member of the PCE object to selected child team members of thechild PCE object, the data uploaded to a shared space of the child PCEobject by the certain team member.

Optionally, the method further comprises adding a new team member to thePCE object; and providing access to pre-stored correspondence of the PCEobject having permission for access by the new member.

Optionally, the method further comprises removing an existing teammember of the PCE object; and providing access to pre-storedcorrespondence of the PCE object having permission for access by theremoved member until the time and date of the removal.

Optionally, the method further comprises selectively upgrading certainregistered users to an upgraded system level, wherein registered usersat the basic level have access to correspondence within the shared spaceof each PCE object until a preselected time period, and users at anupgraded level have access to all correspondence independently of thepreselected time period.

Optionally, the method further comprises receiving, at the centralserver, a command from a certain PCE team member to close a certain PCEobject; and receiving, at the central server, a command from the certainPCE member to open the closed certain PCE object; wherein the certainPCE member accesses correspondence of the certain PCE object addedbetween the closing and the opening, after the opening of the closedcertain PCE object.

Optionally, the method further comprises receiving, at the centralserver, a command from a certain internal user that another certaininternal user has left the organization, and flagging the anothercertain user within the user repository with a left-the-organizationstatus based on the signal from the certain internal user.

Optionally, documented correspondences are retained by blocking at leastone of tampering and deletion of the documented correspondences by eachof the plurality of PCE team members.

According to an aspect of some embodiments of the present inventionthere is provided a system for intra-organizational andextra-organizational peer collaboration, comprising: a central servercomprising: a terminal interface configured for communicating with aplurality of client terminals of a plurality of registered users; aprogram store storing code; and a processor coupled to the terminalinterface, and the program store for implementing the stored code, thecode comprising: a user repository that stores a dataset of theplurality of registered users, a project correspondence environment(PCE) repository that stores a plurality of PCE objects, each containingPCE metadata and a plurality of PCE team member electronic addresses ofa plurality of PCE team members from the registered users, and aplurality of related entity electronic addresses of entities associatedwith the PCE object, a user mapping module that based on a receivedcommand from a certain PCE team member of each PCE object, associates aplurality of entity users from the plurality of related entities witheach PCE object based on the electronic address, a PCE object managementmodule that generates, for each of the PCE objects, a plurality of childPCE objects associated with respective the plurality of relatedentities, associates each entity user with the respective child PCEobject as a PCE child member, and inherits respective the PCE metadatafrom the PCE object, each one of the plurality of child PCE objectsadditionally containing a plurality of child PCE team member electronicaddresses of a plurality of child PCE team members, and the PCE objectmanagement module receives a plurality of commands from certain users ofthe plurality of registered users, creates a plurality of PCE objects,documents correspondence held between any of the plurality of child PCEteam members within each respective child PCE object using the pluralityof related entity electronic addresses in the PCE object, provides eachof the plurality of child PCE team members with an access tocorrespondence documented in a respective the child PCE object;documents correspondence held between any of the plurality of PCE teammembers with each of the entities using the plurality of related entityelectronic addresses in the PCE object; and provides each of theplurality of PCE team members with an access to correspondencedocumented in a respective the PCE object; wherein the terminalinterface transmits instructions to one or both of display on therespective client terminal and download to the respective clientterminal, correspondence of a respective PCE or child PCE based on anassociated permission and the user accessing the client terminal.

Optionally, the metadata includes a brief field which includes a userprovided description of a project on which the respective PCE object isbased, and a debrief field which includes a user provided update of theproject or a summary after project completion.

Optionally, the PCE object includes a shared space for sharing of dataand correspondence of messages and files between members of therespective PCE object.

Optionally, the system further comprises a PCE mapping module thatstores PCE links between PCE objects of the PCE repository, the PCEmapping module automatically adds a PCE link between the child PCEobject and the PCE object during the generating.

Optionally, the PCE object management module further includes code toperform the inheriting by automatically copying data from a shared spaceof the parent PCE object having permission for access by the child PCEobject, to a shared space of the child PCE object, the copied datahaving a permission to allow access to the copied data by all child teammembers of the child PCE object.

Optionally, each stored correspondence includes the associatedpermission denoting a subset of the PCE team members and child PCEobjects that have access to the data. Optionally, a single copy of thecorrespondence is stored within the PCE object, the single copyaccessible to the subset of PCE team members.

Optionally, the PCE object management module includes code to store oneor both of a tag of a PCE link and data in association with the PCE linkbetween the child PCE object and the PCE object.

Optionally, the PCE object management module includes code to copy datafrom the child PCE object having permission for access by the teammembers of the PCE object, to the PCE object.

Optionally, the user mapping module includes code to send an email to anon-registered peer when the PCE object contains certain correspondencehaving a permission to allow the non-registered peer access to thecertain correspondence, the email including the data in the body of theemail or as an attachment, the email including metadata to allow thenon-registered peer to respond to the email. Optionally, the usermapping module includes code used as a destination address to receive aresponse email from the non-registered user, and to decode metadatawithin the response email to integrate data from the response email withthe shared space of the correct corresponding PCE object.

Optionally, the system is a stand-alone system independent ofintegration with a company system.

Optionally, the system further comprises a user interface that displaysto a certain registered user, a customized view of correspondence storedwithin each PCE object associated with the certain registered user,based on associated permission allowing the certain registered useraccess to certain correspondence.

Optionally, the system further comprises a user interface that providesa central data space for a certain registered user, wherein certaincorrespondence from all PCE objects associated with the certainregistered user is centrally organized in a single list, based on theassociated permission allowing the certain registered user access to thecertain correspondence. Optionally, the user interface includes code tomirror the certain correspondence between the respective PCE objects andthe central data space, so that removal of the certain correspondencefrom the central data space retains the certain data in the respectivePCE object. Optionally, the user interface displays data from respectivePCE objects that has not been acted upon by the certain registered user,within the central data space. Optionally, the user interface includes aclosed PCE object that consolidates correspondence added to closed PCEobjects after closing of respective PCE objects by the certainregistered user.

Optionally, the system further comprises a user interface thataggregates all extra-organizational members of all PCE objects into anextra-organizational dataset, and to allow an intra-organizationalregistered user to search the dataset.

Optionally, the system further comprises a user interface that tags eachPCE object with a category type, and searches through PCE objects basedon the category type.

According to an aspect of some embodiments of the present invention,there is provided a computer-implemented method for intra-organizationaland extra-organizational peer social networking, comprising:registering, at a central server, multiple users in a user repositorystoring a dataset of multiple registered users; receiving, at thecentral server, multiple commands from certain users of the multipleregistered users, to create multiple project correspondence environment(PCE) objects each containing PCE metadata and multiple PCE team memberelectronic addresses of multiple PCE team members from the registeredusers, and multiple related entity electronic addresses of entitiesassociated with the PCE object; receiving a command, at the centralserver, from a certain PCE team member of each PCE object, to associatemultiple entity users from the multiple related entities with each PCEobject based on the electronic address; documenting correspondence heldbetween any of the multiple PCE team members with each of the entitiesusing the multiple related entity electronic addresses in the PCEobject; providing each of the multiple PCE team members with an accessto correspondence documented in a respective the PCE object; associatingthe PCE objects with the user; generating a list of the PCE objects forpresentation in an intra-organizational social profile page; and mappingsocial links between registered users of the user repository, andproviding the list of the user to other users socially linked to theuser.

Optionally, the metadata includes a brief field denoting a project onwhich the respective PCE object is based, a debrief field denoting anupdate of the project or a summary after project completion, and ashared space for sharing of data and correspondence of messages andfiles between team members of the PCE object.

Optionally, the metadata includes data, messages, and files designatedas archived, and the list includes PCE objects with accessible archiveditems from the social profile page.

Optionally, the method further comprises mapping, by a PCE mappingmodule, links between PCE objects of each user having child PCE objectstherefrom. Optionally, the method further comprises blocking display ofthe list to extra-organizational users.

Optionally, the list includes a brief and a debrief of the PCE objectsassociated with the user, when the user is extra-organizational and listfor the extra-organizational is viewed by intra-organizational users.

Optionally, each PCE object is associated with a social permissionlevel, and each social link is associated with a social permissionthreshold, the social permission threshold defining which particular PCEobjects of the at least linked user to provide.

Optionally, the method further comprises mapping the social linksbetween registered users based on an organizational hierarchal structureof the organization, so that supervisors are linked to subordinates andto superiors.

Optionally, the method further comprises automatically detecting anupdate of the metadata of respective PCE objects, and automaticallysending a message including the updated metadata to the linked user.

Optionally, the method further comprises generating for a certainextra-organizational user, a list of respective PCE objects forpresentation based on the certain extra-organizational user being amember of the respective PCE objects.

Optionally, the method further comprises providing a user with asuitable permission level access to a certain PCE object without beinglinked to PCE team members of the certain PCE object.

Optionally, the method further comprises automatically linking betweenintra-organizational users of the user repository andextra-organizational users of the user repository based on theextra-organizational users being members of the PCE object together withrespective intra-organizational users.

According to an aspect of some embodiments of the present invention,there is provided a computer-implemented method for intra-organizationaland extra-organizational peer collaboration, comprising: registering, ata central server, multiple users in a user repository storing a datasetof multiple registered users; receiving, at the central server, multiplecommands from certain users of the multiple registered users, to createmultiple project correspondence environment (PCE) objects eachcontaining PCE metadata and multiple PCE team member electronicaddresses of multiple PCE team members from the registered users, andmultiple related entity electronic addresses of entities associated withthe PCE object; receiving a command, at the central server, from acertain PCE team member of each PCE object, to associate multiple entityusers from the multiple related entities with each PCE object based onthe electronic address; generating, for each of the PCE objects multiplechild PCE objects associated with respective the multiple relatedentities, associating each entity user with the respective child PCEobject as a PCE child member, and inheriting respective the PCE metadatafrom the PCE object, each one of the multiple child PCE objectsadditionally containing multiple child PCE team member electronicaddresses of multiple child PCE team members; documenting correspondenceheld between any of the multiple child PCE team members within eachrespective child PCE object using the multiple related entity electronicaddresses in the PCE object; providing each of the multiple child PCEteam members with an access to correspondence documented in a respectivethe child PCE object, and blocking access to the documentedcorrespondence from other child PCE team members of other child PCEobjects and from PCE team members of the PCE object; documentingcorrespondence held between any of the multiple PCE team members witheach of the entities using the multiple related entity electronicaddresses in the PCE object; and providing each of the multiple PCE teammembers with an access to correspondence documented in a respective PCEobject, and blocking each of the entities from access to correspondencewith other of the entities.

Unless otherwise defined, all technical and/or scientific terms usedherein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinaryskill in the art to which the invention pertains. Although methods andmaterials similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used inthe practice or testing of embodiments of the invention, exemplarymethods and/or materials are described below. In case of conflict, thepatent specification, including definitions, will control. In addition,the materials, methods, and examples are illustrative only and are notintended to be necessarily limiting.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

Some embodiments of the invention are herein described, by way ofexample only, with reference to the accompanying drawings. With specificreference now to the drawings in detail, it is stressed that theparticulars shown are by way of example and for purposes of illustrativediscussion of embodiments of the invention. In this regard, thedescription taken with the drawings makes apparent to those skilled inthe art how embodiments of the invention may be practiced.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a method for intra-organizational andextra-organizational collaboration based on PCE object(s), in accordancewith some embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a system for intra-organization andextra-organization collaboration based on PCE object(s), in accordancewith some embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an exemplary PCE object, in accordance withsome embodiments of the present invention;

FIGS. 4A and 4B are schematic diagrams depicting links between PCEobjects, in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram depicting social links between users, inaccordance with some embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of additional optional exemplary features based onPCE objects of the method of FIG. 1 and/or the system of FIG. 2, inaccordance with some embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of additional optional exemplary features forsocial network related actions based on the method of FIG. 1 and/or thesystem of FIG. 2, in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention; and

FIGS. 8A, 8B, 8C, 8D, 8E, 8E′, 8F, 8G, 8H, 8I, 8J, 8K, 8K′, 8L, 8M, 8N,8O, 8P, 8Q, 8R, 8S, 8T, 8U, 8V, 8W, 8X, and 8Y are images of anexemplary user interface based on an exemplary implementation of themethod of FIG. 1 and/or the system of FIG. 2, in accordance with someembodiments of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

An aspect of some embodiments of the present invention relates to ageneric object environment for collaboration betweenintra-organizational and/or extra-organizational peers. As used herein,the phrase project correspondence environment (PCE) refers to a genericobject environment, which is based on a set of records and used forestablishing an interactive platform for intra-organizational and/orextra-organizational peer collaboration based on exchanging electronicmessages. The PCE object is executed to host a correspondenceenvironment for a certain project, wherein team members and entities,which are assigned to the certain project can communicate and shareknowledge while intra-organizational communication andextra-organizational communication may be managed under differentparadigms. The PCE object based correspondence environment models theway a team that includes intra-organizational employees work togetherand with extra-organizational collaborators, such as suppliers andcontractors. It is noted that the extra-organization collaborators maybe from a different organization, from different parts of the sameorganization as the core team working on the project, or from differentrelated companies owned by the same entity. It should be noted that auser who is involved in a plurality of project can manage herinvolvement in a plurality of different PCE objects simultaneously.

Optionally, a PCE object is created according to user instructions for acertain company related business activity, such as a project, a client,an activity, a sub project, and/or the like. Different PCE objects mayinclude different intra-organizational and/or extra-organizationalmembers (referred to herein as PCE members), such as depending on theproject and who is working on the project. Each user (for example, anintra-organizational employee) may participate in multiple PCE objects,for example, different PCE objects for different projects the respectiveuser is involved with.

Each PCE object defines based on user selection, PCE team members thatare team members of the project (referred to herein as PCE teammembers). Optionally, each PCE object also defines, based on userselection, collaborators that contribute to the project but are not teammembers of the team allocated by the organization for the project,action, or sub project defined in the PCE object (referred to herein asPCE linked entities or linked partners). The electronic addressees ofthe team members and/or linked entities may be contained within the PCEobject, for example, the email of the members, an electronic link to auser interface of the member, and an internet protocol (IP) address.

The linked entities may be related entities, which may beintra-organizational or extra-organizational, for example, attorneys,accountants, suppliers, and/or contractors. Each team member is aware ofall other team and linked entities, by being displayed information ofthe other team members and linked entities, for example, on a userinterface. Each linked entity is aware of all team members, but isunaware of the other linked entities, being displayed information of theteam members with information of the linked entities being blocked.Optionally, information displayed to PCE team members may be speciallydesignated for display to the PCE linked entities (e.g., to all), by aPCE team member designating a message, a file, and/or a document as anarchive. The archive may become available to PCE linked entities thatwould otherwise not have availability to such information. Team membersmay be individual peers (for example, summary data of the individual isprovided and displayed to other viewing peer). Linked entities may beother PCE objects (for example, summary data of the other PCE objects isprovided and displayed to the other viewing peer), where each of theother PCE objects includes members from the entity itself, for example,employees of the law firm, accounting firm, supplier company and/orcontracting company. Additional exemplary PCE members and collaboratorsare discussed in more detail below.

Optionally, data uploaded and/or posted to the PCE object (e.g.,messages, files, and/or documents) is permanently retained. The uploadedand/or posted data may not be tampered with and/or deleted. In thismanner, each PCE object retains a complete record of interactions,without data tampering and/or data deletion. Such complete records maybe used, for example, to verify historical interactions, as part oflegal proceedings, and/or as part of business negotiations.

An aspect of some embodiments of the present invention relates tosystems and/or methods for intra-organizational and/orextra-organizational social networking based on PCE objects. Selectedinformation within the PCE object is used as a basis for a socialprofile, which publishes accomplishments of the user PCE member to otherintra-organizational users. The PCE object information shared by theuser (for example, an intra-organizational employee) helps the userreceive the recognition he/she deserves for working on the projectsthrough related PCE objects. PCE object information may be shared, forexample, by intra-organizational employees with otherintra-organizational employees, and/or by extra-organizational entitieswith intra-organizational employees. The shared PCE object informationhelps the external entities receive recognition for their performance,for example, by intra-organizational employees selecting the externalentities for new projects based on the shared PCE object information.

Optionally, intra-organizational and/or extra-organizational peerslinked to one another are presented with PCE objects associated with thelinked peer. Optionally, the peer issuing a request to access PCEobjects associated with the linked peer is provided with selectedinformation from the PCE objects of the linked peer, for example, theinformation is organized and/or displayed on a client terminal of therequesting peer.

The selected information for sharing is used as profile entries for thesharing user. Exemplary selected information may include one or more of:a title of the PCE object, a brief of the PCE object (which may describethe project of the project of the PCE object), a debrief of the PCEobject (which may be an updated state of the project), and otheroptional data fields as described herein. Optionally, the selectedinformation includes archives of the PCE object (e.g., messages,documents, and/or files), optionally archives designated by the userhaving the profile entry. In this manner, the archived data items may beused to highlight achievements of the profile user, for example, bymaking available (via designation) a work document the profile userworked on.

As described herein, the title, the brief, the debrief, PCE tags, linktags, and/or other selected information as described herein are part ofa briefing. The briefing may be shared, as described herein.

The PCE object management system provides a common environment for peersfrom inside the organization to collaborate together with peers fromoutside the organization. The peers from outside the organization maybe, for example, located on a different network than the internal peers,outside the wirewall of the organization, have different emails, and notbe employees of the organization (but may be contractors).

Each PCE object includes metadata, such as: a title of the project, abrief field which includes a user provided description of a project onwhich the respective PCE object is based, and/or a debrief field whichincludes a user provided update of the project or a summary afterproject completion. Each PCE object includes a shared space for sharingof data and correspondence of messages and files between members of thePCE object, and other information as described herein. Each PCE objectmay include archives of the items within the shared space, which may beavailable to linked entities that do not have access to other sharedinformation.

Optionally, a child PCE object is created by the PCE object managementsystem for each PCE linked entity of a parent PCE object. The child PCEobject may be generated upon request of a team member of the parent tolink to the external entity. One of the external entity users may beselected by the requesting team member to represent the external entity.The representing user may be automatically added as a team member to thechild PCE object. The representing user may be provided with permissionlevels to modify certain metadata to customize the child PCE object foruse by the entity. Effectively, the child PCE object itself is linked tothe parent PCE object as the linked entity.

The child PCE object partially mirrors the parent PCE object, includingrelevant messages, files, and/or documents intended for the members ofthe child PCE object by a member(s) of the parent PCE object. The childPCE object inherits certain metadata from the parent PCE object. Therelevant metadata is copied, for example, from the parent PCE object tothe child PCE object. The copied metadata may be changed by the teammember of the child PCE object. Alternatively or additionally, certainmetadata is not copied, but left blank for the term member to fill in.In this manner, metadata may be different and/or customized for thechild PCE, for example, the title, brief and/or debrief of the child PCEobject may be different than the parent PCE object. Alternatively oradditionally, certain data stored within the shared space of the parentPCE is copied to the shared space of the child PCE object. The copieddata has permission to allow access by the team members of the child PCEobject. Optionally, messages, files, and/or documents designated as anarchive in the parent PCE object are copied to the child PCE object, andbecome available to team members of the child PCE object.

The child PCE object is linked to the parent PCE object to maintainand/or update the inherited data.

The child PCE object may be used and/or managed by the respective childPCE team member in a similar manner described herein for the use of theparent PCE object. For example, the child PCE object is created for anextra-organizational contractor, and child PCE members which may beextra-organizational peers may be invited to participate in the childPCE object. In this manner, the child PCE object provides the respectivechild PCE team member with both an environment for collaboration withthe members of the parent PCE, and a separate environment forcollaboration with members of the child PCE. Effectively, the teammembers and/or linked entity child members of the child PCE object areindependent of the team and/or linked entity parent members of theparent PCE object, able to correspond privately amongst themselves.Similarly, the team member and/or linked entity of the parent PCE objectare independent of the team member and/or linked entity of the child PCEobject. Each group of child PCE object members of each child PCE objectmay correspond amongst themselves, without child PCE object members ofother child PCE objects having access to the correspondence. Parent PCEteam members of the parent PCE object may correspond with all child PCEteam members of each child PCE object. In this manner, the parentmembers correspond with all linked entities, while each linked entitycorresponds amongst itself and/or with the parent members, but withoutcorrespondence between different linked entities. It is noted thatarchived data items span across parent and PCE objects, and across teammembers and linked entities of each linked child PCE object, being madeavailable for viewing.

In a similar manner, additional PCE objects may be created and linkedback, for example, one or more grandchild PCE objects may be created(for example, by a team member of the child PCE object). The members ofthe grandchild PCE objects are unable to communicate, correspond and/orshare data back with members of the parent PCE object. Linking thegrandchild PCE object directly back to the parent PCE object providesfor communication between members of the grandchild and parent PCEobjects. Complex graphs linking PCE objects may be created.

Optionally, a message from a PCE object member (for example, a textmessage, such as an email) may have a permission level to be read by allteam members and linked entities. Alternatively, the permission level ofthe message is selectively set to be allowed to be read by certain PCEmembers selected by the sender, which may be a single member or severalmembers, from the team member and/or linked entities. The sent messageremains within the parent PCE object, with the permission defining whois allowed to access the message. When a child PCE object exists, themessage may be copied to the child PCE object. Optionally, all (or aselected subgroup of) team members and/or linked entities of the childPCE object are able to access the data provided from the parent PCEobject. A limited number of copies of the message may exist, which maybe read by all recipients through a user interface connecting to thePCE, instead of, for example, multiple copies of the message beingprovided into an inbox of each person. For example, a single message forthe parent PCE object, and another message for each relevant child PCEobject.

Optionally, in a manner similar to the method described for messages,files and/or documents may be posted by a PCE object member withpermission levels defining which subset (or one or all) of the teammembers and/or linked entities may access the files and/or documents.The files may remain within the parent PCE object, or selectively copiedand mirrored to the child PCE object. Archived data items, such asmessages and/or files and/or documents, may be visible to the linkedmember (e.g., all or a subset of).

The PCE objects of the peer may have permission levels defining whichparticular PCE objects and/or which particular fields of the PCE objectsare accessible to the requesting peer. Archived data items may beautomatically assigned global permission. In this manner, linked peersmay learn what others are doing, such as what other people in theirorganization are working on. Employees are able to present their currentand/or past work to their linked peers, for example, what projects theyworked on, their role in each project, and/or the success of eachproject.

Employees may receive the recognition they deserve for the workperformed, which may include, for example, the archived files and/ordocuments.

Optionally, peers that are extra-organizational (for example, notemployees of the organization) are denied access to the brief and/ordebrief fields of PCE objects of their intra-organizational linkedpeers. The intra-organizational peers may be provided with the briefand/or debrief of the PCE objects of their extra-organizational linkedpeers. In this manner, only intra-organizational employees may learnwhat others within the organization are doing, and/or what theirextra-organizational peers are doing.

Before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, itis to be understood that the invention is not necessarily limited in itsapplication to the details of construction and the arrangement of thecomponents and/or methods set forth in the following description and/orillustrated in the drawings and/or the Examples. The invention iscapable of other embodiments or of being practiced or carried out invarious ways.

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product. The computer program product may include a computerreadable storage medium (or media) having computer readable programinstructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of thepresent invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, and any suitable combination of theforegoing. A computer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not tobe construed as being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves orother freely propagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic wavespropagating through a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., lightpulses passing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signalstransmitted through a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in anycombination of one or more programming languages, including an objectoriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, andconventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming language or similar programming languages. The computerreadable program instructions may execute entirely on the user'scomputer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone softwarepackage, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computeror entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario,the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through anytype of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide areanetwork (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer(for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example,programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), orprogrammable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readableprogram instructions by utilizing state information of the computerreadable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry,in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of theorder noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

As used herein, the term briefing includes other data fields accessibleto the linked user, for example, one or more of the brief, the title,the project start date, the project end date, cost, and other fields asdescribed herein. As used herein, the term briefing may sometimes beinterchanged with, or used in addition to the words brief and/ordebrief, for example, when the user is interested in several informationitems related to the project, instead of specific items such as the goalof the project or the update to the project.

As used herein, the term correspondence sometimes refers to sharing ofmessages and/or files and/or documents and/or other data between teammembers and/or linked entities, as described herein. As used herein, theterm documented correspondence sometimes refers to the stored datarepresentation of the shared messages and/or files, as described herein.

Reference is now made to FIG. 1, which is a flowchart of a method forintra-organizational and extra-organizational collaboration based on PCEobject(s), in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.The PCE object provides an organized structure in which messages areselectively sent between PCE object members and/or files are selectivelyshared between PCE object members.

Reference is also made to FIG. 2, which is a block diagram of a systemfor intra-organization and extra-organization collaboration based on PCEobject(s), in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.The method of FIG. 1 may be executed by the system of FIG. 2, such as bythe processor implementing code stored in the program store to executeone or more features.

The PCE object provides a generic collaboration medium betweenintra-organization peers and/or extra-organizational peers that isdifferent than email (although email may be integrated to collaboratewith non-registered users as described herein). The PCE object providesa virtual folder that other users (for example, intra-organizationaland/or extra-organizational) may look at, share, and/or add to. The PCEobject environment may prevent or reduce wasted time by peers lookingfor certain messages and/or files in different folders in an email inboxand/or on their computer. Vital information may be buried in an inboxcontaining hundreds or thousands of unsorted messages. Sorting suchmessages in an inbox may take significant amounts of time. Instead, thesystems and/or methods described herein based on the PCE object alloworganization of data (for example, messages and/or files) based onprojects, using a shared space, so that data may be quickly found.

The PCE object environment allows each use to act as his/her ownadministrator. Limited central administration may be required, as eachuser may create new PCE objects, decide on the permission level of thePCE object, and decide which users to invite.

The PCE object environment allows for each organization to own its owndata, such as external organizations collaborating withintra-organizational employees.

The system operator may not own and/or use the data for any purposes,which may increase the privacy and/or integrity of the stored data.

The systems and/or methods described herein may improve performance of acomputer, for example, a server hosting the PCE objects. The computermay perform more efficiently and/or in an optimized manner, which mayrequired fewer resources (e.g., memory and/or processing resources)and/or the computer may perform more quickly using the existingresources. The improvement in performance may be based, for example, onkeeping a single copy of the message and/or files within each PCE object(the messages and/or files may be mirrored to the child PCE object),instead of copying the message and/or files to each recipient, andforwarding the message and/or files to each recipient. Moreover, theimprovement in performance may be based on the organization provided bythe PCE objects, as the computer may only need to process relevant datawithin active PCE objects, instead of all data within all PCE objects.

The performance of the computer(s) (for example, a central server)executing the methods described herein is improved, as the links betweenpeers may be quicker to process than having peers join as members forevery PCE object of every person they want to link to. The links may usefewer resources and/or have lower processing requirements.

System 200 includes a central server 202 for communicating with multipleclient terminals 204 through a network 206. Optionally, server 202communicates with client terminals 204 using a terminal interface 212that selectively provides access to respective users of client terminals204. Server 202 may be implemented in a computing cloud. The stored data(as described herein) may include all activity, for example, in case thedata is needed for company and/or legal reasons.

System 200 includes a program store 222 storing code to performfunctions, as described herein, for example, as described with referenceto FIG. 1. The code may be organized as modules (as described herein).Alternatively, the description of modules is for the purpose ofillustration and clarity in description, with code implementation usinga different architecture. A processor 220 coupled to program store 222implements the stored code to execute the features, as described herein.Processor 220 is coupled to terminal interface 212, to execute datacommunication via terminal interface 212, as described herein. Processor220 may be implemented within server 202. Program store 222 may belocally stored on server 202, and/or in communication with server 202,for example, residing on an external server, a removable storage device,or other implementations.

Data in transit may be encrypted. Data stored may be protected byfirewalls and/or access control. The cloud technology may be upgradedregularly to maintain high levels of security and/or user experience.Data from outside the United States may be stored within the EuropeanUnion (EU), and/or in EU safe harbor compliant data centers. The systemoperator may not claim ownership of any of the data that passes throughserver 202.

Optionally, at 102, system 200 is configured for a particularorganization. The organization may be, for example, a company, adivision or department within the company, a group of related companies(which may be commonly owned), a government agency, and a non-profitorganization. Each organization using the system may custom configureuser interfaces, for example, by adding their company logo to the userinterface, and/or selecting company colors.

Alternatively, system 200 is installed in a generic manner andconfigured to allow multiple organizations to use the systemsimultaneously, with data from each organization being separate fromother organizations.

The system may be a stand-alone system independent of a company system.

Alternatively, the system may be integrated with existing companysystems.

Server 202 may be installed within an internal company network, whichmay include a firewall to separate internal and external users.Alternatively, server 202 is installed remotely, for example, within afacility operated by an external operator, with employees of theorganization remotely connecting to server 202, for example, through theinternet.

Client terminals 204 may communicate with server 202 through aninstalled application, for example, a user interface 208A. It is notedthat respective user interfaces 208A may store code in a program storeon or in communication with respective client terminals 204,implementable by the respective processor of the client terminal 204.Alternatively or additionally, client terminals 204 may communicate withserver 202 through a generic application, for example, a web-browser. Auser interface module 210E installed on server 202 and/or incommunication with server 202 may include code (implementable by theprocessor) to organize data processed by server 202 for presentation toclient terminal 204, for example, organize data for presentation usingthe web-browser. Exemplary client terminals 204 include: computerslocated within the physical facilities of the organization, andcomputers located outside the organization, such as at the home of theemployee, or at the physical facilities of an external contractor.Exemplary computers include: desktop computers or mobile devices, forexample, a Smartphone, a Tablet computer, a laptop computer, and awearable computer (e.g., watch or glasses).

Optionally, at 104, users are registered with server 202. Employees ofthe organization may be registered without requiring a specialinvitation. Registration may be based on the email address of theemployee, by verifying that the email address has a domain nameassociated with the organization.

Users outside of the organization, which may have email addresses withdomain names not associated with the organization, may be registeredafter being invited to register by an intra-organizational employee. Inthis manner, the relationship between respective extra-organizationusers and intra-organization users may be tracked, as described hereinin more detail.

Users may register quickly, providing few details. For example byproviding one or more of: an email address, a name, a title, and apassword.

A user repository 210A within and/or in communication with server 202stores a dataset of the registered users.

At 106, one of the respective users creates a PCE object. The command tocreate the PCE object may be sent by the user, using user interface208A, through client terminal 204, for processing by the processing unitof server 202.

The PCE object may be created by code (implementable by the processor)stored as a PCE object management module (and/or system) 210G, which isstored within server 202 and/or is connected to server 202. PCE objectmanagement system 210G may include code (implementable by the processor)to perform the functions described herein with reference to the PCEobject.

PCE objects may be created where multiple peers are collaborating on aproject. PCE objects may be created for a common topic. Exemplaryprojects include: drafting a patent, development of a new product,investigation of a client complaint, negotiation of a business deal,construction of a building, and upgrade of a company website.

Reference is now made to FIG. 3, which is a block diagram of anexemplary PCE object 302, in accordance with some embodiments of thepresent invention. Each PCE object 302 includes metadata. Exemplarymetadata optionally includes a title field 304. Title 304 may representthe purpose of the PCE object, for example, based on the project the PCEmembers are collaborating on.

Optionally, PCE object 302 includes a brief field 306 as metadata. Brieffield 306 may include a description of the purpose and/or goals of theproject. Brief field 306 may include an estimated cost of the project,and/or estimated milestones for completion. The cost and/or milestonesmay be stored as separate fields.

Optionally, PCE object 302 includes a debrief field 308 as metadata.Debrief field 308 may include an update of the current state of theproject, or the outcome of the project after completion. Debrief field308 may include an update of the original estimated cost, costs incurredto date, and/or date of completion of each milestone.

PCE object 302 includes multiple PCE members. The PCE members mayinclude PCE team members 310 and linked PCE entities 312, as describedherein.

Linked PCE entities 312 are child PCE objects that inherit certainmetadata and/or partially mirror the parent PCE object, as describedherein. Optionally, the electronic addresses of the multiple PCE membersare stored within PCE object 302.

PCE object 302 may include multiple related entity electronic addressesof the entities associated with the PCE object.

Optionally, PCE object 302 includes a shared space 314 for storing datato be shared between PCE members. Shared space 314 may include messages316 and/or files 318, as described herein. Messages 316 and files 318may be independent of one another. Alternatively or additionally,messages 316 and files 318 are linked, for example, using the userinterface to click on a certain file brings up the associated message,and/or clicking on a certain message bring up the associated file(s).

Exemplary shared data includes: messages, text documents, slide shows,images, videos, sound files, computer code, and database files. Datastored within shared space 314 is provided by a PCE object member toshare with other PCE members. The providing member may select whichsubset of the other PCE members (one, some, or all) to share the datawith. Each message and/or file may be shared individually with anotherPCE member, with all PCE members, or in a group with selected PCEmembers. Archived items may be automatically designated for sharing withall PCE members and/or all PCE linked entities.

Referring now back to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, optionally, PCE repository 210Bstored on server 202 and/or in communication with server 202 stores thecreated PCE object(s). Optionally, a user mapping module 210C includescode that maps between users of user repository 210A and PCE objects ofPCE repository 210B, to define which users are members of which PCEobject(s). Data associated with each PCE object (i.e., within the sharedspace) may be stored as part of the PCE object, for example, within PCErepository 210B. Optionally, a PCE mapping module 210D includes code(implementable by the processor) that maps between parent PCE objectsand one or more child PCE objects within PCE repository 210B, asdescribed herein, for example, with reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B.

The user creating the PCE object may be assigned a lead permission levelto perform functions that other members of the PCE object are notauthorized to perform. The creating user may be referred to herein as aPCE leader. For example, the leader may change the title, the briefing,and/or the debriefing. The PCE leader may transfer leadership to otherPCE members, and/or assign one or more other PCE members leadershipauthorization. The PCE leader may prevent other PCE team members fromadding other peers to the PCE object. The PCE leader may define a set ofrules for who may be added to the PCE object, as PCE shared membersand/or as PCE linked entities.

At 108, users are assigned as PCE team members for each PCE object, forexample, by the processor implementing code stored as PCE objectmanagement module 210G. Different PCE objects may have different teammembers. PCE members of the PCE object connect to the same PCE object.

Users may be invited to become team members by the PCE leader and/or byother team members. An invitation may be sent through a user interfaceaccessing the PCE object. The invitation may be sent to an inbox of theinvited user using an email address, the invitation may be sent toanother PCE object that the invited user is a member of, and/or to acommon space of the user (as described herein). Alternatively, users maybe added to the PCE object (as shared members, as team leaders and/or aslinked entities) without approval and/or without being invited first,for example, by a central administrator, the PCE leader, or a PCEmember.

Alternatively, users are assigned as team members without being sent aninvitation and having to respond, for example, by the PCE leader.

Peers invited to become PCE team members that are not registered usersmay first register as a user (for example, as described with referenceto block 104), and then be assigned as a PCE team member.

PCE team members may be selected based on an organization framework, forexample, the core team members working on the project. The PCE teammembers may be entirely composed of intra-organizational peers.Alternatively, one or more members may be extra-organizational, forexample, when such members are a core part of the team.Intra-organizational and extra-organizational PCE object members may betagged differently, for example, by using metadata. When viewing the PCEobject members using a user interface, the intra-organization andextra-organization members may have different displays, for example, thecompany name of the extra-organizational members displayed may bedifferent.

PCE team members are aware of one another. Optionally, terminalinterface 212 provides the list of all PCE team members to eachrespective PCE object member accessing the PCE object using clientterminal 204. The list of PCE team members may be displayed on clientterminal 204 using user interface 208A.

Optionally, at 110, users are assigned as linked PCE members for eachPCE object, for example, by the processor implementing code stored asPCE object management module 210G. Different PCE objects may havedifferent linked entities.

Reference is now made to FIG. 4A, which is a schematic diagram depictinglinked entity(s) of a certain PCE object 402A, in accordance with someembodiments of the present invention. PCE object 402A contains a titlefield 404A, a brief 406A, a debrief 408A, and shared space 414A asdescribed herein. PCE object 402A contains a team members field 410Athat depicts users that are assigned as team members of PCE object 402A,as described herein. Exemplary team members are depicted as user 420A,user 420B, and user 420C.

The PCE leader and/or any of the team members may invite another peer asa linked entity 412A. Each linked entity is aware of all team members410A, for example, viewing a list of the team members though the userinterface of the client terminal. Each linked entity is not grantedpermission to view any of the other linked entities. For example,terminal interface 212 provides a list of all PCE team members and toblock a list of other linked PCE members, to each respective linked PCEobject member accessing the respective PCE object using the clientterminal.

The linked entities may include team members that contribute towards aproject. The linked entities may work on a selected part of the project.The linked entities may be extra-organizational peers, orintra-organizational peers from another department. Exemplary linkedentities include: suppliers, contractors, lawyers, finance, technicalwriters, and part-time employees.

In this manner, the team members may collaborate with different peers asneeded, while maintaining privacy in that the linked peers are unawareof other linked peers involved in the same project. For example,multiple suppliers of similar products may be invited to collaboratewithin the same PCE object, with each supplier being unaware that of thepresence of the other suppliers, which may be competitors.

When a user is assigned as a linked PCE object member for a particularPCE object, a child PCE object 402B is created. The child PCE object maybe automatically created, for example, by the processor implementingcode stored as PCE repository module 210B. The invited user may beassigned as a PCE leader for child PCE object 402B, for example, by theprocessor implementing code stored as user mapping module 210C. Theinvited user may assign title 404B, brief 406B and/or debrief 408B as heor she desires. The assigned title, brief and/or debrief of child PCEobject 402B may be different than the title, brief and/or debrief ofparent PCE object 402A.

Child PCE 402B is linked back to parent PCE 402A. Optionally, theprocessor implements code stored as a PCE mapping module 210D stored onserver 202 or in communication with server 202, to automatically createand/or store the links between PCE objects.

When linked, a user interface (for example, user interface 208A ofclient terminal 204) displays the linked PCE member(s) of the PCE objectbeing accessed as the linked (or child) PCE object. For example, whenPCE object 402A is accessed, PCE object 402B appears as a linked entity412A. When PCE object 402B is accessed, PCE object 402A appears as alinked entity 412B.

The PCE team leader of PCE object 402B may now invite other peers tojoin as team members. For example, users 420D, 420E and 420F may bedifferent users than users 420A-C, may be the same users, or may overlapwith certain users. The PCE team leader of PCE object 402B may controland/or collaborate using PCE object 402B independently of PCE object402A. In this manner, extra-organizational peers may collaborate furtherwith other peers, which indirectly contribute to the project of PCEobject 402A.

PCE team leader of PCE object 402B may invite another peer, which may beentirely unknown to the organization, to join as a linked entity of PCEobject 402B.

PCE object 402C is created and linked to PCE 402B as described above.PCE 402B appears as a link in linked entity 412C of PCE 402C. Both PCE402A and 402C appear as linked entities 412B in PCE 402B. Title 404C,brief 406C, and/or debrief 408C may be independently selected for PCEobject 402C. Users 420G and 420H being team members 410C may be unawareof users 420A-F of PCE 402A and 402B.

Users 420A-C of PCE 420A are not able to directly communicate orcollaborate with users 420G-H of PCE 402C. Users 420G-H of PCE 420C arenot able to directly communicate or collaborate with users 420A-C of PCE402A.

Effectively, PCE 402C is independent of PCE 402A. The members of PCE402C may indirectly contribute to the project of PCE 402A, for example,by being subcontractors to members of PCE 402B, which may be acontractor to PCE 402A.

The subcontractor may perform work for the project, without thesubcontractor being aware of the organization, or the organization beingaware of the subcontractor. In order for one or more of users 420A-C ofPCE 402A to communicate with users 420G-H of PCE 402C, the users of PCE402A may link to PCE 402C. When PCE 402C becomes a linked entity 412A ofPCE 402A, members of PCE 402C may collaborate with members of PCE 402Adirectly, as described herein.

It is noted that PCE 402C may link back to PCE 402A. It is also notedthat each PCE object may link to multiple other PCE objects. In thismanner, a graph between PCE objects may be created, which may becomplex. Connections between PCE objects may be circular.

Automatically created instances of child PCE objects may be stored inPCE repository 210B. The links between additionally created PCE objectsmay be stored in PCE mapping module 210D.

Optionally, PCE links between PCE objects are unidirectional, forexample, PCE link 422A is from PCE 402A to PCE 402B, PCE link 422B isfrom PCE 402B to PCE 402A, PCE link 422C is from PCE 402B to PCE 402C,and PCE link 422D is from PCE 402C to PCE 402B. Alternatively, PCE linksare bidirectional. The unidirectional PCE link may allow for differentfunctions and/or tag when one PCE object links to another PCE object,depending on the direction of the link. The bidirectional links mayprovide for the same functions and/or tags between the linked PCEobjects.

Data may be stored in association with the PCE link. The data stored onthe link may be data that is related to the association between the twoPCE objects. For example, a contract between the organization (forexample, PCE 402A) and the contractor (for example, PCE 402B). Thecontracts may be associated with expiration dates. PCE members may postdata to the link related to the linked partner, for example, notes aboutthe relationship, and/or performance of the partner. Otherintra-organization users may read these notes, which may help thoseusers select the right partner and/or negotiate other deals with thesame partner. Each link may be tagged with a link category. The linkcategory may describe the type of linked entity, and/or the relationshipbetween the linked entity and the organization, for example, supplier,recruiter, lawyer, and contractor. Each unidirectional link may havedifferent tags, for example, supplier on link 422A and client on link422B. The tags may enable searching and/or sorting. Data stored on thelink may be stored within PCE mapping module 210D, or within a datarepository mapped to PCE mapping module 210D.

The link tags (or PCE object tags as described herein) may be selectedfrom pre-defined tags, for example, departments, purchasing categories,divisions, regions, and revenue categories. Customized tags may beadded, locally by PCE members and/or globally by a centraladministrator.

In one example, PCE 402A is created by a certain company forcollaboration on a new patent. Team members 410A include the inventor,R&D leader, and in-house counsel. An external patent attorney firm hasbeen invited as linked entity 412A to join. The team leader of theexternal firm is added to newly created PCE 402B for collaboration onthe patent. The team leader invites a patent attorney of the externalfirm and a paralegal as team members 410B. The team leader invites anexternal patent search firm as linked entity 412B. The team leader ofthe external search firm is added to the created PCE 402C (which may bea child of PCE 402B and/or grandchild of PCE 402A), and invites a patentsearcher of the search firm as a team member 410C. In this manner, teammembers 410A may collaborate with the external patent firm around thepatent, without necessarily being aware of the patent search firm'sinvolvement. Another external patent firm may be invited by team members410A, to work on another patent of the patent portfolio, and linked aslinked entity 412A (after creating another PCE object linked with PCE402A). In this manner, the two patent firms may be unaware of eachother's presence, yet both are linked to PCE 402A.

Reference is now made to FIG. 4B, which is a schematic diagram depictingan example of complex linking relationships between different PCEobjects, in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.As discussed herein, each PCE object may be linked to one or more otherPCE objects, each of with may be linked to one or more other PCEobjects, which may be linked back to other PCE objects. In this manner,complex PCE object link graphs may be formed.

Links will be described as bidirectional, but may be unidirectional ineither direction as described herein.

PCE object 450A (parent) is linked to both PCE objects 450B and 450C(children). PCE object 450B (parent) is linked to PCE object 450D(child). PCE object 450D is linked back to PCE object 450A. PCE object450C (parent) is linked to PCE object 450E (child). PCE object 450E(parent) is linked to PCE object 450G (child). PCE object 450G (parent)is linked to PCE object 450F (child). PCE object 450F is linked back toPCE object 450C. Links may be formed (for example, upon request of teammembers of either PCE object) between PCE objects that do not have aparent-child relationship, for example, between PCE objects 450F and450C, and between objects 450D and 450A.

Details such as the structure of PCE objects and/or correspondenceamongst members is as described herein. In a brief summary, each object450A-G has a group of team members, which are independent of any otherobject. The team members of each PCE object may correspond amongstthemselves, and/or with the team members of directly linked PCE objectsvia the respective PCE link. Members of PCE objects that are notdirectly linked to each other may not correspond with one another, forexample, shared members of PCE object 450G are unable to correspond withshared members of PCE object 450C, although PCE objects 450G and 450Care both linked to PCE object 450E. In order to correspond, a link maybe created between PCE objects 450G and 450C. Team members of each PCEobject may invite others to join as members of the respective PCEobject, as team members and/or as linked entities, by creating anadditional child PCE object. Each additional created child PCE objectinherits certain allowed metadata from the parent and/or data from theshared space, and is automatically linked back to the parent.

Any PCE object may be linked to any other PCE object, whether the PCEobject exists or not. When the PCE object is pre-existing (for example,created by another user, created as a child of a different PCE object),the pre-existing PCE object is linked to the respective PCE object. Whenthe PCE object does not yet exist, the PCE object may be created and anew link formed between the new PCE objet and the respective PCE object,for example, based on the child relationship as described herein.

Referring now back to FIG. 1, at 112, data is shared between users ofthe PCE object, for example, by the processor implementing code storedas PCE object management module 210G. The shared space has beenpreviously discussed with reference to FIG. 3. Additional details arenow described. A PCE object member (team and/or linked entity) mayprovide data to the shared space, for example, by uploading a file fromthe client terminal (using the user interface), and/or by typing amessage into a box appearing within the user interface.

The providing PCE object member may set the permission level associatedwith the data, to define which particular members or groups of membersmay have access to the data, for example, all team members, all linkedentities, all linked and team members, or certain members listed byname. The permitted members may access the data, for example, to readthe data and/or download the data.

The users having permission levels to access the data may be informed ofthe availability of the new data, for example, by the user interface asdescribed herein in additional detail.

Users that have been joined as members of the PCE object (as linkedentities and/or team members) are automatically provided with access todata within the shared data. Such newly joined member may have access todata with suitable permission level. For example, a new member assignedas leader may have access to all data, a new member assigned as a teammember may have access to data having permission for access by all teammembers and/or linked entities, and a new member assigned as a linkedentity may have access to data having a permission level for access byall linked entities. In this manner, messages and/or other files do notneed to be selected, copied and/or forward (for example, by email) tothe new member, as the data with suitable permission for the new memberis already available in the shared space. The new member may access thefull history of messages, and/or the stored files.

Optionally, data is categorized or labeled as group data or individualdata (for example, messages and/or files). Individual data may bedefined as data provided only to a certain user. Group data may bedefined as data provided to multiple or all users.

When the certain user leaves or closes the PCE object, the only theindividual messages destined for the certain user may be kept for futureaccess.

When an existing member leaves or is removed from the PCE object, theremoved member may have access to data in the shared space until thetime and/or date when the member has left. The removed member does nothave access to any new data regardless of the permission level. In thismanner, the member that left still retains a record of his/her activitywithin the PCE object, and does not need to select and/or copy importantdata before leaving, yet is denied access to new data.

Data may be shared with peers that are not members of the PCE object.When data is provided (for example, uploaded or typed into an interfacebox), the providing member may select a permission to allow a peer thatis not a member of the PCE object to access the data. The member mayprovide an email address of the peer (which may be intra-organizationaland/or extra-organizational). The peer may receive an email (with theproviding member and/or PCE object as sender) that includes the typedmessage (in the body of the email) and/or files attached to the email.

The email may be sent (and the response email received) by server 202through an email server (or client) 214 connected to network 206. Thepeer that received the email may respond to the email, by typing amessage and/or attaching files. Data is extracted from the email sentback, and stored in the shared space of the PCE object. The dataextracted from the email may be assigned the same permission as theoriginal email sent to the peer. The email sent to the peer and/or sentfrom the peer may contain metadata to provide for integration with thePCE object. The metadata may allow the response email from the peer tointegrate with the PCE object, by guiding the extraction of the datafrom the email.

The non-registered peer may be stored within user repository 210A, andoptionally linked with the PCE object though the processor implementingcode stored as user mapping module 210C. User mapping module 210C maycontain code to automatically generate the email based on the mappingdata, and forward the email to an email server for transmission to thenon-registered peer. User mapping module 210C may also include code toserve as a destination address for email from the non-registered peer,and decode the metadata within the email to assign the provided data tothe correct PCE object. In this manner, members of the PCE object maycollaborate using the PCE object with non-registered peers.

Reference is now made back to FIGS. 4A-4B, to describe shared spacebetween linked PCE objects. The shared space may be managed, forexample, the processor implementing code stored as PCE object managementmodule 210G.

Data in shared space 414A of PCE 402A may be selectively shared withcertain linked entities 412A, which may include PCE 402B. Child PCEobject 402B may inherit data from parent PCE object 402A, optionallyautomatically upon creation of PCE object 402B. The data inherited maybe metadata and/or data (messages and/or files) within shared space 414Athat has permission levels allowing access to linked entity PCE object402B. The inherited and/or shared data may be copied to shared space414B when PCE 402B is a linked entity of PCE 402A, for example, by theprocessor implementing code stored as PCE mapping module 210D. The datais recopied after being changed to maintain the same copy at bothlocations. Alternatively, the data is not copied, but a link is providedfrom shared space 414B to shared space 414A. Data in shared space 414Bmay be independent of data in shared space 414A, except for dataselected to be shared with PCE 402B by the providing user of PCE 402A.

When data is shared by PCE 402A with PCE 402B, all team members of PCE402B (i.e., users 420D-F) have access to the data through shared space414B. Data in shared space 414B may also contain additional dataprovided by members of PCE 402B. The additional data may be selectivelyshared with PCE 402A. In this manner, PCE 402A and 402B may storedifferent data in their respective shared spaces 414A-B, with shareddata appearing in both shared spaces 414A-B.

PCE object members of PCE 402B may provide shared data to shared space414B with a permission level that only allows members (all or certainmembers) of PCE 402B access to the data, and does not allow members ofother linked PCEs (for example, PCE 402A and/or 402C) access to thedata.

Sharing data within the common PCE object allows members to communicateand/or collaborate with one another. Such data sharing may replace emailcommunication between members. The data sharing improves computerperformance and/or requires less resources, as a single copy of the datawithin the PCE object is accessible to the relevant members, instead of,for example, forwarding multiple copies of email to each member, whereeach email may contain a separate copy of a file. When the files arelarge and the distribution list is long, the storage and/or processingrequirements may be significant, which may affect performance of thecomputer. Instead, the systems and/or methods described herein use asingle copy of the data accessible by the members, which requires fewerresources and has much less risk of overloading the processor. Severalcopies of the data may exist, such as a copy at each linked PCE object,as described above. The several copies are far fewer in number than themultiple copies that would be required when emailing a copy to everymember.

The shared space may have different optional features. For example:

-   -   Large storage capacity that may automatically increase when the        current capacity is close to being filled, for example, based on        a cloud architecture, which may effectively provide unlimited        capacity.    -   Ability to store any type of file as described herein.    -   Data from the shared space may be downloaded to other computers,        which may allow for offline work. The data worked on may then be        uploaded back to the shared space.    -   Data may be organized within folders (which may be defined by        the leader and/or uploading user).    -   A synchronization mechanism to allow only one user to modify the        file at a time, to help prevent multiple copies having different        amendments. Alternatively, users may work together in real time,        on a common document that is updated with the changes each        makes, while maintaining a single updated version.    -   Code stored as an automatic conversion module to convert        uploaded files to a common file format, for example, all images        are automatically converted to PDF format.    -   The shared data space may be accessible from any terminal device        at any location, for example, using a Smartphone, laptop,        desktop, tablet, or other computer.    -   Code stored as a synchronization mechanism module for download        to the terminal client of the user, to synchronize files copied        from the shared space to the terminal client.    -   User interface 210E may allow for a user to open files in the        shared space for viewing and/or editing, and/or to create new        files, for example, through a web-browser interface accessed by        client terminal 204.    -   Code stored as an encryption module may automatically encrypt        and decrypt data stored on the shared space.    -   Code stored as a search module may allow searching within the        shared space for certain data, for example, using optical        character recognition and/or image processing.    -   Code stored as an activity tracker module may track which PCE        members edited the files, when they edited them, and what        changes were made.    -   Older versions of files may be stored, for example, to allow        easy back-tracking when unwanted changes have been made.    -   External and/or third party application may be integrated to        provide additional functions, for example, to allow for digital        signatures.    -   Data may be designed in an archived state, as described herein.    -   Data in the shared space may be permanently maintained in its        original posted and/or uploaded state, to create an accurate        correspondence history without changes, deletions, or tampering.

Optionally, at 114, social links are generated between registered users,for example, by the processor implementing code stored as PCE objectmanagement module 210G. The social links may be formed by a particularregistered user sending an invitation (for example, through email, orthrough a PCE object) to another registered user to link. Alternatively,the links may be automatically and/or manually generated, for example,by a central administrator, based on the organizational structure of theorganization. For example, the CEO is linked to all vice presidents,each vice president is linked to middle managers, and each middlemanager is linked to his/her staff. The link may be unidirectional, orbidirectional. Links may be stored, for example, in a user social linkmodule 210F that maps social links between registered users of userrepository 210A. Users may be nodes and links may be edges, providingfor formation of complex graphs.

Reference is now made to FIG. 5, which is a block diagram depicting anexample of social links between users, in accordance with someembodiments of the present invention. User 504A is linked to user 504Bthrough a social link 506A. User 504A is also linked to user 504 througha social link 506B. The user link arrangement is simplified and made forexample purposes only, and is not necessarily limiting, as differentlinks may be made between different registered users.

User 504A is a PCE object member of PCE objects 502A, 502B, 50C, and502D, as described herein. Each PCE object 502A-502D may have exemplaryfields as described with reference to FIG. 3.

User 504B and/or user 504C may access certain fields of each PCE object502A-502D, for example, the title, the brief, the debrief, archiveddata, and/or other information fields which may be defined for suchviewing (for example, by a central administrator). The title, the brief,the debrief and/or the tags are part of a briefing which is shared, asdescribed herein. The membership status of user 504A in each PCE objectmay be provided, for example, team leader, team member, and/or linkedentity. Terminal interface 212 may display the certain fields for eachPCE object 502A-D on respective client terminals 204 being used by users504B and/or 504C. The fields and/or PCE objects may be selected and/ororganized for display on the client terminals 204 by user interface210E.

Optionally, the access to certain fields is centrally administered. Forexample, only users that are company employees may access the PCE objectfields, and/or may access certain PCE object fields such as the briefand/or debrief. In another example, only users that are companyemployees may receive updated briefings, as described herein. Thepermission to receive the briefings updates (i.e., brief, debrief and/orother updates) may be based, for example, on the email address of theuser. Users with email addresses having company domains may access thebrief, debrief and/or updates information. External users with emailaddresses having domains outside the organization may be blocked fromaccess to the brief, debrief, and/or updated information. In thismanner, extra-organizational users may be blocked from looking atactivity within the company that they are not directly involved with.

Optionally, each PCE object includes a respective social permissionlevel 508A-D that defines which particular PCE objects are accessible(for example, for viewing) to which linked peer. Alternatively oradditionally, social permission levels 508A-D define which informationfields of the particular PCE object are accessible to which linked peer.The social permission level may be defined, for example, by the PCEleader of each PCE object, by the user associated with the PCE objects,and/or by the central administrator. The social permission level may bestored as part of the information stored with each PCE object, forexample, within PCE repository 210B.

Optionally, each social link 506A-B has an associated social permissionthreshold. The social permission threshold defines which PCE objectshaving certain social permission levels are accessible to the peer atthe other end of the link. Social permission threshold may be assignedin a unidirectional manner, so that different social permissions areavailable, for example, for user 504B accessing user 504A than for user504A accessing user 504B. Alternatively, the social permission thresholdis bidirectionally assigned, so that the linked peers have the samethreshold relative to each other. The social permission threshold foreach link may be stored in association with the links, for example, inuser social link module 210F.

An exemplary social permission level set includes: confidential,unrestricted, standard, and general. An exemplary related socialpermission threshold is defined as:

-   -   confidential level 1: receive all briefings;    -   confidential level 2: receive all briefings except confidential;    -   confidential level 3: receive all general and standard        briefings; and    -   confidential level 4: receive general briefings only.

There may be other number of confidential levels (less or more than 4).The confidential levels may be assigned names that correspond toconfidential levels 1-4.

The categories may be further defined, for example, linked peers havinga standard permission cannot see the estimated charge for the PCEobject, and peers having general privacy cannot see the estimated chargeand the history of prior briefings.

Optionally, each user defines the social permission threshold for a peerhe/she wants to link with. Alternatively or additionally, socialpermission threshold are assigned automatically or manually, forexample, by a central administrator, based on organizational hierarchywithin the company. For example, high level managers may see everything,middle managers may see less, and peers who are in different departmentsand/or not working together may have limited access.

For example, PCE 502A has a social permission level 508A of 3, PCE 502Bhas a social permission level 508B of 2, PCE 502C has a socialpermission level 508C of 4, and PCE 502D has a social permission level508A of 1. Link 506A has a social permission threshold of >=3, and link506B has a social permission of >=1. Based on the example, user 504Baccessing a user profile of user 504A may access PCE 502A and 502C. User504C may access all PCE 502B-D.

Optionally, the PCE objects are shared only between peers within theorganization, for example, registered users having email addresses ofthe organization, and/or registered uses flagged as belonging to theorganization.

Optionally, PCE objects are not accessible to externally linked peers.

Optionally, only intra-organizational peers may be linked to each other.Extra-organizational peers may not be able to be linked tointra-organizational peers.

Alternatively, extra-organizational peers may be linked, but areassigned limited access. Alternatively, extra-organizational peers mayonly be linked to intra-organizational peers that are members of thesame PCE object as the extra-organizational peers. In this manner, thelinking of the extra-organizational peers may be limited to thoseemployees of the organization that they are working with.

Alternatively, when using single directional links, intra-organizationalusers may link to extra-organizational users, without theextra-organizational users being able to link back to theintra-organizational users.

Each user may select to share the PCE objects in which they are the PCEleader, PCE objects in which they are team members, all PCE objects, oronly certain PCE objects.

Optionally, updates are automatically detected and sent to each user(and/or the user is informed of the availability of the new update) wheninformation field(s) are updated in PCE objects associated with thelinked peer. Updates may be sent when the linked peer is a leader of thePCE object. Updates may be sent when the linked peer is a member of thePCE object, or alternatively, when the linked peer is a member (but nota leader). Alternatively, updates may be available to be read, but maynot be automatically sent. Updates may include the status change offiles and/or documents to archived.

The updates may serve as a monetization model. Users may first receiveonly titles of briefings or PCE objects, without being able to accessall the other information (i.e., briefing, debriefing, tags, list ofshared members and/or linked entities). The users browse the availabletitles to select PCE objects of interest. The users may pay a fee tosubscribe to receive full access to the other information from the PCEobject.

For example, when a debrief of a certain PCE object (for example, PCE502B) is updated, the updated information (or all information for thePCE object) is automatically provided and/or made available to thelinked peers of the user associated with the updated PCE object. Theupdate may be sent to those linked peers having suitable permissionthresholds to receive the update. In this manner, linked peers may bekept up to date with what is going on in different parts of the company,and/or supervisors and/or other administrators (for example, finance)may be kept in the loop.

The updating may be automatically performed, for example, by PCErepository 210B when an information field is updated and/or by theprocessor implementing code stored as PCE object management module 210G.The update may be sent to the client terminal of the linked user, as amessage to an email inbox of the linked user, and/or to user interface210E for centralized viewing by the linked user. The received briefingsmay be sorted by update date, with the most recent briefings appearinghigher on the list.

The systems and/or methods described herein provide a platform topublish work of employees. Employees may receive credit for their work,which may motivate in their work. For example, an employee havingfinished work on a work related document may publish his/her work bychanging the status of the finished work to archived. Sharing briefingsand/or debriefings (and/or other information fields) of PCE objectsallows employees to publish their work to their linked peers.

The users sharing the briefings (e.g., briefings and/or debriefings) mayenjoy social benefits from publishing their progress, for example,rewards, recognition, and/or promotion. Shy and/or modest workers whonormally would go unrecognized and/or be undervalued may receive therecognition they deserve when others are able to see how they workand/or what they are working on. Similarly, extra-organizationalpartners that perform well may be recognized by others in the company,which may help other employees pick the high performing partners forfuture projects. The shared briefings may be associated withrecommendations and/or rankings of the partner by the company employees,as described herein in more detail.

Optionally, at 116, the level of the system is upgraded. Upgrades may beselectively performed for individual users within a company, so thatsome users remain at the current level and some are upgraded. Anupgraded version may be downgraded again.

The basic level may provide users with time limited access to datawithin PCE objects they are associated with. For example, the users mayonly access messages and/or files with time stamps of 12 months or less,or other predefined time periods, such as 6 months or 24 months. Theorganization may define how long the data is held for, for example, foreach user and/or group of users. The upgraded level may provide userswith unlimited access to the data regardless of the age of the data.

Users working on projects with short time frames may not need to beupgraded when projects are completed in less than 12 months. Users infinance, quality control, or other administrative functions may needaccess to all data, for example, to perform auditing.

Optionally, a mechanism is provided to help sort through ongoingmessages.

For example, by the users in finance, quality control, or otheradministrative functions that review the ongoing messages. A new foldermay be created to store all new unhandled messages. Once the messageshave been handled (for example, by the auditors) the messages moved tothe respective PCE object for access by the PCE shared members and/orlinked entities as described herein.

Reference is now made to FIG. 6, which is a flowchart of additionaloptional exemplary features for actions based on PCE objects of themethod of FIG. 1 and/or the system of FIG. 2, in accordance with someembodiments of the present invention. The features may be implemented bythe processor executing code stored in the program store.

Optionally, at 602, a registered user accesses a particular PCE objectfrom a list of PCE objects in which the registered user is a PCE objectmember of. The list of PCE objects may be presented by user interface210E and/or user interface 208A, based on user mapping module 210C.

The registered user may see a list of the briefcases he/she is a memberof. For each briefcase, an overview of the participants and/or activitymay be displayed.

For each PCE object, the user is presented with data within the sharedspace (for example, messages and/or files) that has a permission levelallowing the user to access the data. For example, individual messagesnot sent to the user are not displayed. Group messages including theuser as a recipient are displayed to the user.

In this manner, each PCE object member is presented with a customizedview of data within the shared space. The shared PCE object environment,which may be based on a single copy of the data, provides customizedviews to each member. The result is something that may feel as private,easy and/or flexible as email while delivering powerful groupcollaboration.

Optionally, at 603, data stored in association with the PCE object isdesignated as archived. The data may correspondence data. The data maybe messages, files, and/or documents. The designation may be performedmanually by the user, via the user interface, for example, by selectingthe respective data item and selecting a menu option to archive the dataitem. The archived data may be stored in the shared space field of thePCE object. The archived data may be included in the metadata associatedwith the PCE object, which may be inherited by child PCE objects and/orused for social networking (as described herein).

Archived data items may be accessible to all (or designated sub-group)of the PCE members, including team members and linked entities, forexample, being assigned a global permission level high enough to allowviewing by the team members and linked entities. It is noted thatarchived items may be viewed by linked entities that would otherwise nothave access to other correspondences, messages, files, and/or documentsassociated with the PCE object.

Archiving the data items acts as a form of virtual publication, allowingteam member and linked entities of the PCE object access to the archiveddata items. Archived data items may represent significant milestonesrelated to the PCE object, for example, a final draft version of a workdocument. Each subsequent finalized updated version may be archived.

Archived data items may be automatically copied from the parent PCEobject to created child PCE object(s).

Alternatively, the archived data item is designated as un-archived,which restores the previous permission status of the data item.Alternatively (e.g., as defined by a policy), once archived, data itemsmay not be un-archived.

Permissions allowing users to archive and/or un-archive the data itemsmay be set, for example, by a global policy (e.g., by the systemadministrator, and/or as pre-configured system settings, and/or by alocal policy defined by the PCE leader. Optionally, the leader isallowed to designate data items as archived and/or un-archived.Alternatively or additionally, the PCE team members are allowed todesignate data items as archived and/or un-archived. Alternatively oradditionally, the PCE linked entities and/or linked members are allowedto designate data items (which are visible to them) as archived and/orun-archived.

Optionally, at 604, the registered user accesses a centralized dataspace, in which messages and/or files from all (or a selected subset of)PCE objects in which the registered user is a member of, are gatheredtogether, for example, in a single list and/or single folder. Thecentralized data space provides the user with the option of readingmessages, answering messages, and/or accessing data files (for example,to view and/or edit) without having to access each PCE objectseparately. Each data item is still associated with its respective PCEobject, so that messages replied to, and/or files edited through thecentralized data space are related back to their respective PCE object.

Messages, files and/or other data may be searched and/or filtered fromthe centralized data space. Messages and/or files may be moved betweenPCE objects (personal messages and/or files, but not group messagesand/or files, as doing so would remove the access from other recipientmembers), forwarded to other PCE objects (or to an email address),printed, archived, and/or deleted.

Alternatively, messages, files, documents, and/or other data areretained (e.g., permanently stored), by blocking deletion, changes,and/or other tampering attempts, for example, the user interface forusers omits an option to delete or change messages and/or files oncethey have been posted and/or uploaded. Deletion and/or tampering isblocked (or not available) for any (or selected) members of the PCEobject, including PCE members and/or linked entities. In this manner,the retained data represents an un-tampered correspondence record. It isnoted that deletions and/or changes may be allowed, for example, definedby system settings granted to certain users, for example, to the systemadministrator and/or team leader. Such deletions and/or changes may berecorded to maintain a complete record.

Data displayed within the centralized data space mirrors data withinrespective PCE objects. The same data may be accessed from twolocations, from individual PCE object shared spaces, and/or from thecentralized data space. Any changes to the data at the centralized dataspace are reflected within the data of the PCE object. The data may bestored as the single copy within the PCE object, accessed through thecentralized data space. Messages and/or files read or acted upon at thecentralized data space may be closed, being removed from the centralizedspace but retained within the PCE object.

Optionally, new data (for example, unread and/or otherwise not actedupon data) posted to each shared space of each PCE object appears withinthe centralized data space. Data that was previously acted upon may onlyappear when individual shared spaces of individual PCE objects areaccessed. Files may be previewed, downloaded and/or forwarded from thecentralized data space.

Data may be uploaded to shared spaces of PCE objects from thecentralized data space. The user may specify the particular destinationPCE object (sending to one or several PCE objects), and the particularrecipients. In this manner, from a central location, the user may sendmessages and/or upload data destined to different recipients, todifferent shared spaces of PCE objects. From the centralized data space,the user may send messages and/or files to recipients that are notregistered members, for example, based on email as described herein.

User interface 210E may act as the centralized data space, for example,when users connect through a web-browser.

Optionally, at 606, the registered user closes a certain PCE object inwhich he/she is a member, for example, using user interface 210E.

Each member of the certain PCE object may individually close the PCEobject for him/herself. The PCE object remains active for the remainingmembers to continue collaboration. The member that closed the PCE objectmay be removed from the member list (the team members or linkedentities).

Data may continue to accumulate in the shared space of the closed PCEobject (by other members that have the PCE object open). Data havingsuitable permission levels may be still accessed by the user that closedthe PCE object. The data may be accessed by re-opening the closed PCEobject. The data may be consolidated into an automatically createdclosed PCE object that consolidates data from all PCE objects closed bythe registered user. In this manner, no data is lost, and data may stillbe accessed at any time. Closing of PCE objects may provide a way forthe registered user to remain organized, for example, closing PCEobjects in which the user is no longer contributing to, or in which theproject has been completed.

Closed PCE objects may be reopened. The user may be reinstated back as aPCE member. The user may have access to all the data that hasaccumulated between the closing and re-opening of the PCE object (thedata that has permission levels allowing the user access to the data).

When a new message (or file) is sent to a non-PCE object member (who mayhave previously been a member of the PCE object, or has never been amember thereof), the non-PCE object member may receive the message in afolder of non-PCE objects. The non-PCE objects folder may consolidateall such messages sent to the non-PCE object member. The message may besent by a shared member of a certain PCE object. The non-PCE objectfolder may be accessed through the common space, as described herein.

Optionally at 608, the registered user leaves the organization. Theregistered user may change his/her profile to a status denoting thathe/she has left the organization. Alternatively, any registered user maychange the status of another user (which may or may not be a linkedpeer) denoting that the other user has left the company. Centraladministration to change the status to left-the-organization may not berequired. The status within user repository 210A may be changed toreflect that the user has left the organization, for example, by PCEobject management module 210G.

The details of the leaving user may be retained within repository 210A,in case the user returns to the organization, and/or works for a partnerthat collaborates with the organization.

When a certain user flags another user as having left-the-company, anemail may be automatically sent to the other user with a link and amessage allowing the other user to object. When three days (or anotherpredefined period of time) have elapsed without objection, the status ofthe other user is finalized to left-the-organization.

To log back in after changing the status to left-the-company, the sameuser may need to re-verify his/her email address. The email address mayremain the same, for example, when the user has returned to the company.The email address may change, for example, when the user has moved to acollaborating partner.

Users that have left the organization may not take the data along withthem.

Email addresses may not be changed to an outside domain. When a userdoes move to a different organization, and wants to be re-registered asa user, the email address is changed to the outside domain, and accessto all data and/or PCE objects associated with the old email address(when the user was part of the organization) are blocked. In order toaccess the blocked data, the user (with the new domain name) needs to bere-invited to join respective PCE objects by PCE members.

Reference is now made to FIG. 7, which is a flowchart of additionaloptional exemplary features for social network related actions based onthe method of FIG. 1 and/or the system of FIG. 2, in accordance withsome embodiments of the present invention. The features may beimplemented by the processor executing code stored in the program store.

Optionally, at 702, all extra-organizational members of PCE objects areaggregated into an extra-organizational dataset, for example, by userinterface 210E.

All external members outside of the organization that are PCE objectmembers of any intra-organizational user are aggregated into theextra-organization dataset.

The dataset may include profiles of individual members, for example,when such members are team members. The data set may include profile ofextra-organizational partners, for example, when such partners arelinked entities.

Optionally, the dataset includes the tag (which may be stored on thelink) between the intra-organizational PCE object and the PCE objectcreated by the extra-organizational partner.

The dataset may be searched by company (or partner) or individualperson, for example, based on their activity related to tags (forexample, purchasing, sales, or other categories). Optionally, onlyintra-organizational users may access and/or search the dataset.

The extra-organizational members may be identified, for example, basedon their registration details, their email address, and/or their memberstatus.

Optionally, at 704, a list of all linked peers (or a selected subgroupthereof) for a certain registered user is compiled, for example, by userinterface 210E.

The list may include the number of briefings each linked peer has sharedwith the registered user, how many briefings have been shared with otherusers, and/or how many briefings the registered user has shared witheach linked peer.

Optionally, at 706, the certain registered user access a dashboard userinterface (which may be controlled by user interface 210E) to controlhow briefings of PCE objects are shared. Briefings may be shared on thedashboard, for example, with specific departments, countries, or withthe entire company.

The dashboard may provide a summary to allow a certain user to quicklyscan what has been shared with the user, for example, by linked peer, byexternal partners, by category and/or based on other categories. Whenthe user clicks on the briefing, the user may see a history of previousbriefings.

Optionally, at 708, all briefings shared by all linked peers (or aselected subgroup thereof) with the certain registered user issearchable, for example, through user interface 210E. In this manner,the user may find other similar projects in the company, find partnersrecommended by other peers, and/or see what is happening in the company.Searching may be performed through the dashboard.

Optionally, at 710, user profiles of linked peers are displayed, forexample, by the user clicking on the name of a linked peer through userinterface 210E. The user profile may include information fields of PCEobjects the linked peer is involved with, and other personal details ofthe linked peer for sharing, for example, address, title, phone number,email, education, who those linked peers are linked to within thecompany, and/or who those linked peers are linked to outside thecompany.

Optionally, the user profile includes archived items of PCE objects thelinked peer is involved with. Optionally, all archived items areassociated with the user profile. Alternatively, items archived by thelinked peer become part of the user profile (e.g., which may be based onthe assumption that the user designating the archive played asignificant role). Alternatively, archived items related to the linkedpeer (e.g., the linked peer is an author of the document) become part ofthe user profile. The archived items may be accessible to individualshaving access to the user profile.

Individuals from outside the company that participate in PCE objects inwhich the user was a member and/or leader may be automatically added tothe user profile as part of a network. Specific invitations to link withintra-organizational users may not be required. Optionally, social linkmodule 210F automatically links between intra-organizational users ofthe user repository and extra-organizational users of the userrepository based on the extra-organizational users being members of thePCE object together with respective intra-organizational users.

Optionally, at 712, partner profiles of external organizations aredisplayed, for example, by the user clicking on the name of anextra-organizational individual and/or the name of anextra-organizational partner (for example, a company). The partnerprofile may be automatically defined by user interface 210E based onexisting information within the system and/or manually defined by theextra-organizational partner. The partner profile may include briefingsof PCE objects that are shared with the certain user through linked peerthat have worked with the partner. The shared briefings may be used toassess capabilities of the external partner, which may help in providingreferences for the partners, negotiating with the partners and/orselecting the best partners. When the name of an extra-organizationalindividual is clicked, the profile may include, for example, contactdetails, resume, who the individual has worked with from theorganization, and the briefings shared with the user in which theextra-organizational individual was involved.

Optionally, at 714, a tag associated with each PCE object is customized,for example using user interface 210E, and/or automatically by asoftware module. The tag may be selected by the central administrator,by the PCE leader, or by other PCE members. The tags may categorize thePCE object by one or more categories, for example, department, division,spend category, revenue category, and activity.

The tags may be searched by an administrator or other individual withhigh permission level, to identify PCE objects based on the differentcategories. For example, finance may search through PCE objects relatedto spending, to learn how money is being spent across the company.

Optionally, when a project is confidential, and a person without properpermission levels is viewing the confidential PCE object, certaininformation fields may be blocked and certain fields may be allowed, forexample, the title, brief, debrief and/or shared data space may beblocked. The members may be visible. The budget of the PCE object may bevisible. In this manner, the viewer may know there is a secret projectgoing on, without knowing what it is. For example, finance may haveaccess to the budgets of the secret projects. The viewer may contactthose involved for more information when required.

Optionally, certain people may be assigned a permission level to viewactivity based on the different tags. For example, executives,procurement, and/or finance professionals may want to see activity byspend category, division, department, and/or country. The permissionlevel may be an option available in an upgraded version of the system asdescribed herein.

The tags allow those with suitable permission levels to access PCEobjects without being linked to any members of the PCE objects.

It is estimated that within a company, about 3-5% of employees willrequire special high level permission, for example, to access PCEobjects (such as by tags) without being a member of the PCE object. Inthis manner, the administration requirements are fairly low, which maybe controlled with a small team. The remaining user without the highlevel permission define and/or control access to PCE objects themselves,as described herein.

Reference is now made to FIGS. 8A, 8B, 8C, 8D, 8E, 8E′, 8F, 8G, 8H, 8I,8J, 8K, 8K′, 8L, 8M, 8N, 8O, 8P, 8Q, 8R, 8S, 8T, 8U, 8V, 8W, 8X, and 8Ywhich are screen captures of an exemplary implementation of the systemsand/or methods for PCE object based intra-organizational and/orextra-organizational collaboration, in accordance with some embodimentsof the present invention. The screen captures may be displayed on aclient terminal of a registered user, being viewed through a userinterface, for example, as web-browser or customized application, asdescribed herein. The screen captures may be based on the method of FIG.1 and/or the system of FIG. 2.

FIG. 8A is an exemplary user interface that displays and/or accesses anexemplary PCE object 802, as described herein, for example, in referenceto PCE object 302 of FIG. 3. Title 804 includes the project title,location, overall PCE object classification (for linked peer to viewbriefings), estimated cost, summary of activity, and open and closedates. Brief 806 provides a summary of the goal of the project anddebrief 808 provides the updated status of the project. PCE team members810 are listed, which may include for each member, a picture, name,title, role (leader or participant), and dates of involvement.Additional team members may be invited by clicking invite 820. LinkedPCE entities 812 are listed as external organizations, with the name ofthe external organization, the role in the project, the date of joining,the number of team members within the PCE object of the partner, andadditional details which may be accessed. Partners may be invited tolink by clicking button 822.

Shared space 814 includes messages 816 and files 818. Shared space 814allows searching for specific files and/or messages within the sharedspace itself.

FIG. 8B is an exemplary user interface that displays and/or accesses theinvitation to another registered user to become a team member, forexample, after clicking button 820 of FIG. 8A.

FIG. 8C is an exemplary user interface that displays and/or accessesinviting an external partner to join as a linked entity, for example asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 4A-4B. Box 824 sends an invitation tothe leader of the external partner.

Once the leader has created his/her own PCE object (i.e., child PCE),the partner PCE object may be linked back to the intra-organizationalPCE object (i.e., parent PCE) by box 826 or 828. Box 828 is optionally afurther detailed version of box 826, both of which allow the invitinguser to customize the labeling of the partner PCE object, which may bestored on the link between the parent and child PCE object, as describedherein. In this manner, the child PCE objects of external partners maybe searched and/or sorted.

FIG. 8D is an exemplary user interface that displays and/or accesses alist of PCE objects for a certain registered user, which may include asummary of the title, the number of team members, the number of linkedentities, the number of files and/or messages in the shared space, thedates of opening and/or closing, and the permission level of the PCEobject for sharing briefings, as described herein.

FIG. 8E is an exemplary user interface that displays and/or accesses thecentralized messages space, as described herein. Unread or otherwiseacted upon messages from PCE objects that the user is a member of areorganized in a centralized space 830. Box 832 contains a list of PCEobjects in which the user is a member of, along with a closed-briefcasePCE object that consolidates data for user closed PCE objects (asdescribed herein), and a No-Briefcase PCE object which contains datasent to the user without being associated with any particular PCEobject. Box 834 contains a breakdown of messages by type. Box 836 is acentralized space for files.

FIG. 8E′ is another exemplary user interface that displays and/oraccesses the centralized messages space, as described herein. The userinterface may display a summary of the number of conversations and/orbriefings that the user is participating in. The user interface maydisplay a summary of the PCE members and/or PCE linked entities compiledfrom the PCE objects that the use is a member of. PCE members may bemarked, for example, with a green dot. PCE linked entities may bemarked, for example, by a grey dot. The number of pending messages maybe displayed next to each name.

A list of the summary of the pending messages is presented, optionallyorganized in reverse chronological order (i.e., newest first). Eachpending message summary may include the PCE object name (e.g., BeaconHill Associates), the name and/or title of the PCE member or linkedentity posting the message, and the first line of the message. In thismanner, the user may quickly browse through the pending messages, forexample, to identify important messages that need to be answered first.

The list of pending messages may be filtered, for example, based onimportant PCE objects. Other PCE objects may be presented in a differentwindow, which may be selected separately, for example, by clicking theActivities tag. The PCE objects related to other activities may besorted by RECENT, open, and closed status of the PCE objects.

FIG. 8F is an exemplary user interface that displays and/or accessessending a message from the centralized messages space, as describedherein. The destination PCE object is selectable, along with thedestination user or group of users.

When the destination PCE object is a child PCE (for example, anextra-organization partner), specific members or groups of members ofthe child PCE object may be selected.

FIG. 8G is an exemplary user interface that displays and/or accessescreation of a new PCE object. The user may select and/or enter data infields such as title, briefings permission level, brief, debrief, andtags to help classify the PCE object, as described herein.

FIG. 8H is an exemplary user interface that displays and/or accesses adashboard for viewing briefings shared by others intra-organizationalcolleagues with the linked user. The shared briefings are organized indifferent ways, for example, by type such as: colleague, partner,category, department, division and geography. For one or more selectedtypes (or all types), the names of the linked peers are displayed, alongwith the number of shared briefings, and number of other members of thePCE object. Particular team members may be selected (for example, BettySutton) to display a breakdown of specific PCE objects the linked peeris sharing.

FIG. 8I is an exemplary user interface that displays and/or accesses adashboard for viewing briefings shared by extra-organizational partnerswith the linked user.

FIG. 8J is an exemplary user interface that displays and/or accessescertain shared PCE objects of a linked peer. The top box displaysinformation such as the brief, debrief, title, team members and anylinked entities. The bottom box depicts a shared PCE object in which theviewing linked user does not have sufficient permission to view thebriefings. The user may be presented with basic information, such astitle and team members, which may be contacted to learn more about therestricted PCE object.

FIG. 8K is an exemplary user interface that displays and/or accesses abox to search through briefings from a certain user. Search may beperformed, for example, based on time period, status (e.g., all, open,closed, deleted), type (e.g., all, revenue, expense, no partner,internal partner), estimated cost, permission level, and relationship(e.g., mine, colleagues, my department, my country, everyone).

FIG. 8K′ is another exemplary user interface that displays and/oraccesses fields to organize briefings and/or search briefings.

Optionally, the list of briefings displayed on the user interface may befiltered by status of the PCE object (e.g., by the user selecting afeature from a list), for example: All briefings (displays all thevisible briefings as described herein), pinned (e.g., briefings relatedto the PCE objects the user is a member of), Last twelve months, Openonly, Closed only, With payments (PCE objects having associated paymentvalues, for example, for outsourced projects), and add filter (a customfilter may be defined).

Alternatively or additionally, the list of briefings displayed may befiltered, for example by owner of the PCE object: Colleagues, Vendors,Clients, Geography, Department, Division, Purchases, and Sales.

Alternatively of additionally, the list of briefings displayed may be aresult of a search. The search may include only enterprise PCE objects.Examples of search fields (which may be combined): Keyword, Period(e.g., time period), Status (e.g., open, closed), Geography, Type (e.g.,only vendors, only clients, neither), Teams, Department, Division,Purchases, and Sales.

FIG. 8L is an exemplary user interface that displays and/or accesses alist of linked peers. The permission level denoting sharing of briefingswith the linked peer is displayed and may be changed. The number ofbriefings shared by the displayed linked peers is shown. Briefingsshared by the linked peers may be searched.

FIG. 8M is an exemplary user interface that displays and/or accesses auser profile of an intra-organizational peer (which may be shared orhave a general permission allowing users to view the profile), asdescribed herein, which may be accessed by clicking on the name of thelinked peer. The user profile displays personal information of thelinked peer, a list of shared PCE objects having shared briefings, and alist of who the linked peer is further connected to, organized byintra-organizational peers (denoted as the Colleagues tab),extra-organizational peers (denoted as the Network tab), and permissionlevels to access different types of PCE object briefings (denoted as thePermissions tab). Actions may be performed directly from the userprofile, for example, link to the user of the profile, invite to acertain PCE object, send a message, and change status toleft-the-company.

FIG. 8N is an exemplary user interface that displays and/or accesses alist of profiles of extra-organizational partners. The list may besearched by briefings of the shared PCE objects of the partners. Thenumber of members of the child PCE objects of the partners is displayed.

FIG. 8O is an exemplary user interface that displays and/or accesses aprofile of an extra-organizational partner. The partner provides contactinformation, and a summary of their business. The profile displaysbriefings which the partner is sharing for certain PCE objects, alongwith details of the objects, such as number of team members, projectopen date, project close date, estimated cost, and actual cost. A listof intra-organizational members the partner is linked to is provided. Alist of contacts of individuals working within the partner organizationis provided.

FIG. 8P is an exemplary user interface that displays and/or accesses aprofile of an extra-organizational individual, which may be displayedafter the individual is selected from the partner profile, and/or fromother user interfaces. The individual may be linked by anintra-organizational employee when the individual has joined a PCEobject of the intra-organizational employee.

FIG. 8Q is an exemplary user interface depicting fields of anintra-organizational user profile, that may be entered by the userhaving the displayed profile.

FIG. 8R is an exemplary user interface that displays and/or accesses alist of briefings updates sent from different PCE objects of differentlinked peers of a certain user. Recent updates are higher up on thelist. Updates may be flagged as important. Partners having a flag besidethem are not on an approved partner list, which may be updated by acentral administrator, for example, based on employee recommendations.

FIG. 8S is an exemplary user interface that displays and/or accesses anexemplary user interface depicting reviews of extra-organizationalpartners by intra-organizational users that worked with those partners.

FIG. 8T is an exemplary user interface that displays and/or accesses apartner profile (as described above), which includes review summaries byintra-organizational users that worked with the partner.

FIG. 8U is an exemplary user interface that displays and/or accessesregistration of extra-organizational users based on the email domainname of the extra-organizational partner, for example, by the centraladministration. Such extra-organizational users have different settingsthan intra-organizational users, as described herein.

FIG. 8V is an exemplary user interface that displays and/or accessessettings for PCE objects, for example, to tag different PCE objects inorder to classify them, for example, by division, department, purchases,sales, geography, entities, and other. Reviews may be customized toreflect desired information from the reviewer (by clicking on the Reviewlink). PCE objects may be accessed centrally, for example, by theadministrator without having to be a member of the PCE object.Categories may be customized.

FIG. 8W is an exemplary user interface that displays and/or accessessettings to authorize partners as vetted, for example, after beingapproved by procurement. The list of partners may be automaticallypopulated based on activity of users at the organization. Each partnermay be vetted by an individual with suitable permission, such asindividuals listed under the Verified by column.

FIG. 8X is an exemplary user interface that displays and/or accessesarchived files. User interface may include a user field 1802 of thecurrent user. An optional conversations and briefings field 1804summarizes the number of active conversations the user is involved with,and the number of briefings the user is publishing (and/or viewing). Anactivity field 1806 displays the active PCE objects the user hasregistered with. A correspondence field 1810 displays a history of thecorrespondences. In this case, the user is viewing the Beacon HillGroup. Members field 1808 may display and/or mark the PCE team membersof the selected PCE object (i.e., Beacon Hill Group), such with a greendot next to the respective names. Members field 1808 may display and/ormark the PCE linked entities of the PCE object, such as with a grey dotnext to the respective names. A post field 1812 may display files and/ordocument that have been posted by members of the PCE object, such asfiles and/or documents within the shared space of the PCE object, forexample, by selecting the POSTS tab. It is noted that different versionsof documents may be displayed. Access to each document is as describedherein.

FIG. 8Y is a different view of the exemplary user interface of FIG. 8X.The ARCHIVE tag has been selected from field 1812, displaying archivedfiles. The archived files are a sub-set of files displayed using thePOSTS tab, which may represent significant achieved milestones. Forexample, a single document is archived, instead of the multipledocuments representing intermediate steps in creation of the finaldocument. The archived files are available to all members listed infield 1808. Details field 1814 is obtained by selecting the DETAILS tab.Details related to the selected PCE object are presented, for example,the type, category and activity description.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof code, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be notedthat, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in theblock may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, twoblocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be notedthat each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, andcombinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedsystems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations ofspecial purpose hardware and computer instructions.

The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present inventionhave been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intendedto be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the describedembodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain theprinciples of the embodiments, the practical application or technicalimprovement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodimentsdisclosed herein.

It is expected that during the life of a patent maturing from thisapplication many relevant servers, user interfaces and client terminalswill be developed and the scope of the terms server, user interface andclient terminal are intended to include all such new technologies apriori.

As used herein the term “about” refers to ±10%.

The terms “comprises”, “comprising”, “includes”, “including”, “having”and their conjugates mean “including but not limited to”. This termencompasses the terms “consisting of” and “consisting essentially of”.

The phrase “consisting essentially of” means that the composition ormethod may include additional ingredients and/or steps, but only if theadditional ingredients and/or steps do not materially alter the basicand novel characteristics of the claimed composition or method.

As used herein, the singular form “a”, “an” and “the” include pluralreferences unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. For example,the term “a compound” or “at least one compound” may include a pluralityof compounds, including mixtures thereof.

The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example,instance or illustration”. Any embodiment described as “exemplary” isnot necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over otherembodiments and/or to exclude the incorporation of features from otherembodiments.

The word “optionally” is used herein to mean “is provided in someembodiments and not provided in other embodiments”. Any particularembodiment of the invention may include a plurality of “optional”features unless such features conflict.

Throughout this application, various embodiments of this invention maybe presented in a range format. It should be understood that thedescription in range format is merely for convenience and brevity andshould not be construed as an inflexible limitation on the scope of theinvention. Accordingly, the description of a range should be consideredto have specifically disclosed all the possible subranges as well asindividual numerical values within that range. For example, descriptionof a range such as from 1 to 6 should be considered to have specificallydisclosed subranges such as from 1 to 3, from 1 to 4, from 1 to 5, from2 to 4, from 2 to 6, from 3 to 6 etc., as well as individual numberswithin that range, for example, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. This appliesregardless of the breadth of the range.

Whenever a numerical range is indicated herein, it is meant to includeany cited numeral (fractional or integral) within the indicated range.The phrases “ranging/ranges between” a first indicate number and asecond indicate number and “ranging/ranges from” a first indicate number“to” a second indicate number are used herein interchangeably and aremeant to include the first and second indicated numbers and all thefractional and integral numerals therebetween.

It is appreciated that certain features of the invention, which are, forclarity, described in the context of separate embodiments, may also beprovided in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, variousfeatures of the invention, which are, for brevity, described in thecontext of a single embodiment, may also be provided separately or inany suitable subcombination or as suitable in any other describedembodiment of the invention. Certain features described in the contextof various embodiments are not to be considered essential features ofthose embodiments, unless the embodiment is inoperative without thoseelements.

Although the invention has been described in conjunction with specificembodiments thereof, it is evident that many alternatives, modificationsand variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art.Accordingly, it is intended to embrace all such alternatives,modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and broad scopeof the appended claims.

All publications, patents and patent applications mentioned in thisspecification are herein incorporated in their entirety by referenceinto the specification, to the same extent as if each individualpublication, patent or patent application was specifically andindividually indicated to be incorporated herein by reference. Inaddition, citation or identification of any reference in thisapplication shall not be construed as an admission that such referenceis available as prior art to the present invention. To the extent thatsection headings are used, they should not be construed as necessarilylimiting.

1-20. (canceled)
 21. A computer-implemented method for presenting a userinterface on a display of a client terminal for interfacing withextra-organizational entities, comprising: providing, a plurality ofproject correspondence environment (PCE) objects each containing PCEmetadata, a plurality of PCE team members from a plurality of registeredusers, and a plurality of entity users of related entities associatedwith the PCE object; using at least one hardware processor for:generating, for each of the PCE objects, a plurality of child PCEobjects associated with respective plurality of related entities,associating each entity user with the respective child PCE object as achild PCE team member, and inheriting respective the PCE metadata fromthe PCE object; documenting correspondence held between any of theplurality of child PCE team members within each respective child PCEobject; instructing a plurality of client terminals to present a userinterface granting each of the plurality of child PCE team members withan access to correspondence documented in a respective child PCE objectwhile denying the access to the correspondence documented in anotherchild PCE object of the respective PCE object; documentingcorrespondence held between any of the plurality of PCE team memberswith each of the entities; and instructing the plurality of clientterminals to present a user interface granting each of the plurality ofPCE team members with an access to correspondence documented in therespective PCE object while denying the access to correspondencedocumented in another PCE object.
 22. The method according to claim 21,wherein the PCE metadata includes payment metadata, wherein the entityusers comprise billing entity users, wherein related entities compriserelated billing entities, wherein correspondence comprises payment data.23. The method according to claim 21, wherein at least one of the PCEobjects is associated with at least one payment value stored in abriefing field of the PCE metadata.
 24. The method according to claim23, wherein the at least one payment value is for outsourced projectsassociated with a respective child PCE object.
 25. The method accordingto claim 21, wherein at least one of the plurality of PCE objects isassociated with a briefing having a briefing value stored in PCEmetadata of the respective PCE object, wherein briefings of PCE objectsare at least one of filterable and searchable according to the briefingvalue, wherein the briefing value is selected from the group consistingof: vendor payment, client payment, purchasing payment, revenue payment,payment by geography, and type of payment.
 26. The method of claim 21,further comprising: associating the PCE objects with the user, whereinthe PCE objects are associated with payment data stored in respectivePCE metadata; and generating a list of the PCE objects for presentationin an intra-organizational social profile page according to the paymentdata.
 27. The method of claim 21, wherein the metadata includes a brieffield which includes a user provided estimated cost of a project onwhich the respective PCE object is based, and a debrief field whichincludes a user provided update of at least one of: the originalestimated cost of the project, costs incurred to date, and a summary oftotal costs after project completion.
 28. The method of claim 21,wherein the PCE object includes a shared space for sharing of paymentdata between team members of the PCE object and child team members ofeach child PCE object.
 29. The method of claim 21, wherein thecorrespondence includes payment data uploaded by the certain team memberto the respective shared space of the PCE object, for downloading orviewing by a selected subset of team members based on a permissionassociated with the payment data.
 30. The method of claim 21, whereinthe PCE object is linked to the child PCE object via a PCE link, andfurther comprising storing payment data in association with the PCElink, the payment data related to the relationship between the teammembers of the PCE object and the related entity of the child PCEobject.
 31. The method of claim 30, wherein the payment data comprises acontract between the organization associated with the PCE object and therelated entity associated with the child PCE object.
 32. The method ofclaim 30, wherein the link is unidirectional, and tagging and storingdata is independently performed for the link between the PCE object andchild PCE object, and for the link between the child PCE object and thePCE object, wherein at least one of: the PCE object transmits a firstrequest for payment to the child PCE object, and the child PCE objecttransmits a second request for payment to the PCT object.
 33. A systemfor interfacing between intra-organizational and extra-organizationalentities, comprising: a central server comprising: a terminal interfaceconfigured for communicating with a plurality of client terminals of aplurality of registered users; a program store storing code; a projectcorrespondence environment (PCE) repository that stores a plurality ofPCE objects, each containing PCE metadata, a plurality of PCE teammembers, and a plurality of entity users of related entities associatedwith the PCE object; and at least one hardware processor coupled to theterminal interface, and the program store for implementing the storedcode, the code comprising: instructions to generate, for each of the PCEobjects, a plurality of child PCE objects associated with respectiveplurality of related entities, associates each entity user with therespective child PCE object as a child PCE team member, and inheritsrespective the PCE metadata from the PCE object, instructions todocument correspondence held between any of the plurality of child PCEteam members within each respective child PCE object, instructions toinstruct the plurality of client terminals to present a user interfacethat grants each of the plurality of child PCE team members with anaccess to correspondence documented in a respective child PCE objectwhile denying the access to the correspondence documented in anotherchild PCE object of the respective PCE object, instructions to documentcorrespondence held between any of the plurality of PCE team memberswith each of the entities, and instructions to instruct the plurality ofclient terminals to present a user interface that grants each of theplurality of PCE team members with an access to correspondencedocumented in a respective the PCE object while denying the access tocorrespondence documented in another PCE object.
 34. The systemaccording to claim 33, wherein the PCE metadata includes paymentmetadata, wherein the entity users comprise billing entity users,wherein related entities comprise related billing entities, whereincorrespondence comprises payment data.
 35. The system according to claim33, wherein at least one of the PCE objects is associated with at leastone payment value stored in a briefing field of the PCE metadata. 36.The system according to claim 35, wherein the at least one payment valueis for outsourced projects associated with a respective child PCEobject.
 37. The system according to claim 33, wherein at least one ofthe plurality of PCE objects is associated with a briefing having abriefing value stored in PCE metadata of the respective PCE object,wherein briefings of PCE objects are at least one of filterable andsearchable according to the briefing value, wherein the briefing valueis selected from the group consisting of: vendor payment, clientpayment, purchasing payment, revenue payment, payment by geography, andtype of payment.
 38. The system of claim 33, wherein the metadataincludes a brief field which includes a user provided estimated cost ofa project on which the respective PCE object is based, and a debrieffield which includes a user provided update of at least one of: theoriginal estimated cost of the project, costs incurred to date, and asummary of total costs after project completion.
 39. The system of claim33, wherein the PCE object includes a shared space for sharing ofpayment data and between members of the respective PCE object.
 40. Thesystem of claim 33, wherein stored code implemented by the at least onehardware processor comprises instruction for storing PCE links betweenPCE objects and child PCE objects, and for storing payment data inassociation with the PCE links.
 41. The system of claim 40, wherein thepayment data comprises a contract between the organization associatedwith the PCE object and the related entity associated with the child PCEobject.
 42. The system of claim 33, further comprising a user interfacethat provides a central data space for a certain registered user,wherein certain payment data from all PCE objects associated with thecertain registered user is centrally organized in a single list, basedon an associated permission allowing the certain registered user accessto the certain payment data.
 43. The system of claim 33, furthercomprising a user interface that aggregates all extra-organizationalmembers of all PCE objects into an extra-organizational dataset, and toallow an intra-organizational registered user to search the datasetaccording to payment data of PCE objects associated with respectiveextra-organizational members.
 44. The system of claim 33, wherein theuser interface is configured for tagging each PCE object with a categorytype indicative of a payment category, and for searching through PCEobjects based on the payment category.
 45. The system of claim 44,wherein the payment category is selected from the group consisting of:purchasing category, spend category, and revenue category.
 46. Acomputer-implemented method for interfacing between intra-organizationaland extra-organizational entities, comprising: using at least onehardware processor for: creating a plurality of project correspondenceenvironment (PCE) objects each containing PCE metadata, a plurality ofPCE team members, and a plurality of entity users of related entities;documenting correspondence held between any of the plurality of PCE teammembers with each of the entities; instructing a plurality of clientterminals to present a user interface granting each of the plurality ofPCE team members with an access to correspondence documented in arespective PCE object while denying the access to the correspondencedocumented in another PCE object; associating the respective PCE objectswith the user; generating a list of the PCE objects for presentation inan intra-organizational social profile page; and mapping social linksbetween users, and providing the list of the user to other userssocially linked to the user.
 47. The method of claim 46, wherein the PCEmetadata includes a brief field denoting an estimated cost of a projecton which the respective PCE object is based, a debrief field denoting anupdate of at least one of: the original estimated cost of the project,costs incurred to date, and a summary of total costs after projectcompletion, and a shared space for sharing of payment data between teammembers of the PCE object.
 48. The method of claim 46, wherein each PCEobject is associated with a social permission level, and each sociallink is associated with a social permission threshold, the socialpermission threshold defining for which particular PCE objects of the atleast linked user to provide estimated charges stored in the PCTmetadata of the respective PCE object.
 49. The method of claim 46,further comprising mapping the social links between registered usersbased on an organizational hierarchal structure of the organization, sothat supervisors are linked to subordinates and to superiors, whereineach supervisor is able to access for each of the subordinates, a brieffield of the PCE data storing at least one of estimated charges andpayments of the PCE object for which the respective subordinate is a PCEteam member thereof.
 50. The method of claim 46, further comprisingautomatically detecting an update of payment data stored in the metadataof respective PCE objects, and automatically sending a message includingthe updated payment data to the linked user.
 51. The method of claim 46,further comprising providing a user with a suitable permission levelaccess to payment data of PCT metadata of a certain PCE object withoutbeing linked to PCE team members of the certain PCE object.